Complications (Movie Version)
by Emo Owl
Summary: After rebuilding a relationship and finally finding happiness together in Madrid, Han and Ellie's lives were just about perfect. That all changes when an old friend makes an appearance from beyond the grave. Their lives may never be the same. HanXOC. Sequel to Choices and Consequences. Being edited to fit Fast and Furious 6. SPOILERS
1. Chapter 1

Life's simple; you make choices and you don't look back. You just have to be ready to deal with the consequences.

It's a simple philosophy, really. A finite truth that you can plug almost any situation into and still have it be true. The first part of it had worked for Han for years. It helped him get rid of all the 'what if's' that popped up when things didn't go quite his way.

It drove me bat shit insane. It might work for Han Lue, but it didn't fit for me. While voluntarily strode arrogantly into suicidal business plans and bad ideas, I tried to avoid trouble. Not that it ever did me any good; like Han had once told me, I attract dangerous mobsters.

So the second part of our little philosophy was added. Consequences were something that Han and I couldn't ignore after our bad decisions caused us a lot of grief. It was kind of a given that whatever choice you made was going to have an outcome, but sometimes saying it out loud was a good reminder.

But was that really all there was to life? Choose your path and be prepared for what comes up, or don't live at all?

I used to think life could fit that philosophy, but then everything changed after a phone call. I got hit with a curve ball that hit me straight in the face and left me on my ass staring at the sky wondering exactly what happened. In a matter of weeks, everything bit of solidarity I possessed was ripped to shreds.

It wasn't all for nothing, I guess. What happiness we had lost, someone else had found. They rebuild their lives and their families; picked up the pieces of the life their carelessness destroyed years before.

I was haunted by the way they continued on. My life felt like it was over, why should they get to be happy? Why should they get to carry on like nothing had happened, when I felt like the sun wasn't coming up again?

I let my hand trail down the cold marble stone, traced the name, placed my palm over the final date that came up way before it should have. The cold seeped down into my bones; deep enough to reopen the wounds that were healing and drag the hurt back out to the surface.

I was shaken to the core, but I knew two absolute truths; the first being that life wasn't simple. It was twisted and complicated. The second was that none of this would have happened if Leticia Ortiz had actually died.

**AN: PLEASE READ**

**This is being edited to fit the movie. Some parts will remain intact, others are being scrapped. The first three chapters are mostly the same, but three will go through heavy editing and this had a very important extra paragraph.**

**Anyone want to guess whose grave?**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Already found some clips from Fast and Furious 6 on the internet. It alters what I have written so far a little bit, but I think for the most part I can keep it and get out the later chapters quickly. If I can't, I may drop the story entirely. It's really not getting a lot of views and I'm a little tired of fooling with it.**

The morning sun shone through the windows and bathed the apartment in a warm, golden light. I grinned as I inhaled the familiar scents of our little home. I'd been away so long being back felt like a happy dream. It looked like nothing had changed since I left; clean, lemony scent still wafted out of the somehow still organized kitchen, the plasma screen was still set to the same news channel, a happy fire blazed in the little fireplace across from the modern black couch. The only difference was a sweat shirt tossed carelessly over a kitchen chair.

I had missed this place; after over a month away working with my business partner in Costa Rica on a new hotel we were planning to build, I was beginning to think I'd never make it back. My whole body ached to the bone from the long hours of sitting in hard, upright airport chairs waiting my plane to be ready to fly home and being cramped into an airplane seat. My trip had been made worse by the fact that I was coming home on one of the worst travel days in the year, but it was worth it to be home a little bit early than I had thought possible.

Careful not to make any noise, I pulled my bag all the way inside the door behind me and gently closed and locked it back. Sneakily, I took two cautious steps forward before the floor creaked underfoot. I stilled as a noise sounded from the living room. The noise soon dissolved into snoring, and I knew I was safe.

The grin on my face grew as I pulled off my shoes and tiptoed into our living room. I excitedly followed the sound of the snoring to the couch and my lazy boyfriend. In typical Han fashion, he was sprawled on the couch sound asleep. One hand was in an open Doritos bag that was sitting in his crotch, and the other was dangling off the edge of the couch beside his beer on the coffee table. His black hair stuck up at random angles and his long bangs covered his eyes. His head was lolled at an awkward angle with his mouth hanging wide open. It was obviously affecting his airways; he was snoring like a freaking chainsaw.

I dropped to my knees beside him and gently brushed his cheek with my fingertips before sweeping his hair away from his forehead. His face scrunched in discomfort as he tried to move away from the feeling. I giggled and kissed his forehead. His eyelashes parted after a minute and I found myself staring into his bleary dark eyes.

"Ellie?" He whispered in confusion as he raised his non-Dorito bag hand and stroked my jawbone as if he was trying to make sure I was real. After verifying that I wasn't a dream, he let his hand fall. "You're early."

"Merry late Christmas." I murmured quietly. "I'm sorry I couldn't get back in time."

He hummed in response as he pulled his hand out of the Doritos bag and wiped the orange nacho cheese powder off on his pants. The only sound between us was the crinkle of cellophane as he plucked the bag off of his lap and dropped it to the floor.

"When did you get here?" He asked sleepily as he sat up and pecked me on the cheek before he wrapped his arms around me in a clumsy hug.

"Just now." I answered as I wrapped my arms around his built torso and buried my face in his neck. "I missed you. It's the first Christmas we haven't spent together."

We had been together for five years. Our first Christmas had been spent in a hospital because Han had shattered his hip in a car accident. The next two were thankfully uneventful ones. Last Christmas was another story entirely; we had broken up earlier in the year because I caught him cheating. We got back together in mid-November right before I became the target of the Russian mafia. We spent that Christmas counting money that we had stolen from him after we knocked him out of power in the Russian underworld.

That wasn't a typical holiday, but then again, we weren't typical people.

Han kept his past in the shadows, but, from what I had gathered, he was apparently a smart thug that got involved in some things during high school. He traveled to South America where he met Dominic Toretto. They pulled several jobs together before he split and headed for Tokyo.

I was the daughter of a crack whore and a drug runner/thief. I left my native Puerto Rico when I was nine for America after my mother died. I lived with my dad until he died when I was almost seventeen, a month to the day after we buried my half-brother. I was approached at his funeral and told that he had accepted a job in Japan to get my stupid uncle out of trouble with a Yakuza loan shark. When I refused to take the job myself, I was drugged and snatched away to Tokyo.

When we met, it was far from a fairy tale. At that point, I had pretty much given up and resigned myself to a short life of running drugs before I was either murdered or sold into prostitution. He was a ladies' man that, for some reason, had a little bit of a soft spot for me. He did whatever he could to help me get out from under the thumb of the Yakuza boss, Kamata. He had arranged a way out of the country for me, but the night I was supposed to leave, Kamata found out about some of Han's side deals. Han's car was wrecked by Kamata's nephew and I was beaten half to death.

When we finally escaped and made it to Colombia, he had a shattered hip, broken femur, and a whole laundry list of other injuries. I had five broken ribs and a massively swollen face, and we had almost no money. Somehow, we managed to heal, scrape a decent profit out of a little garage, and build a life together. Everything was amazing, until we got Dom's call to go to Rio.

In the middle of pulling the Rio job, our relationship split apart at the seams. Frayed tempers flared one night before we had to meet the team. We stayed apart as much as possible. I was walking back to where we were staying alone through the dark streets when I saw him slipping into a house with Gisele, a team member that had had her eye on Han the entire time. Crushed, I ran home, grabbed my clothes, and broke into a hotel so I didn't have to stay with him.

As much as I blamed him for our break up, he wasn't the only one at fault. After we had gotten settled in Colombia, I had found an old account that my dad had hidden. I used the money to open a very profitable casino in Italy with my godfather. I never breathed a word of it to Han until I used it as ammo during the fight we got into the next day. I left him for what I thought was forever the night before the job after I got an emergency phone call from my family in Moscow.

After pulling a job on the Russian mafia, I took over my half of the business. I was absolutely miserable, so my godfather sent me off across Europe looking for a city to expand to. I settled in Madrid and began building a night club. It was in Madrid that I finally started getting over Han and settling down.

All of the progress I had made in getting over him came to a screeching halt when I saw him again with Gisele. The chemistry between us was still there, and, despite my every effort to deny it, the magnetic attraction hadn't dimmed a bit. Gisele saw this, and got angry enough to leave. We got back together just in time for the Russians to catch up with me.

Yep, Cinderella and Prince Charming we were not. Bonnie and Clyde was much more accurate.

"How was Costa?" Han asked as he pulled me into his lap.

"Hotter than the ninth circle of hell in the summer." I answered.

"Drama queen." He deadpanned as cupped a hand on my face and pulled me in for a kiss.

"At least I don't taste like Doritos." I shot back as broke apart. He smirked and I found my lips back on his. I allowed him to deepen the kiss despite the Dorito breath. After a few minutes, just sitting on his lap wasn't enough, so I slung my leg over his hip and settled down on top of him. His large hands moved up to grip my hips. It would have quickly progressed into a lot more, if my phone didn't start ringing in my back pocket.

Han groaned in annoyance as he pulled away, leaning back on the arm of the couch. I swore as I grabbed for my phone. I glanced at the caller id quickly before answering.

"Hello?" I bit my lip to contain a moan as Han started moving his hands up and down my waist under the hem of my shirt, rubbing his thumbs in slow circles against the bare skin as he went. I had definitely missed this kind of contact.

"I take it you made it home then." Miles, my business partner drawled lazily. He was

"I did. I just made it back." I answered as I ran my finger around the collar of Han's soft, white t-shirt. His breath caught in his chest.

"I need you back in a few months to finalize everything. Surely gangster boy can part with you for that long." I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm. He was kind of like my godfather and had hated Han from the very beginning after I refused to leave him broken in the hospital to run back to Mile's hotel in Costa Rica. He was very slowly warming up to him; I could tell because that time he didn't include a death threat to Han at the end.

"Oh, next time he's coming with me." I informed him as I hung up and dropped my phone on the coffee table. "I missed you." I told Han as soon as the phone hit the table.

"I missed you too." He replied as he leaned up, obviously eager to continue where we had left off.

"Come on." I interrupted as I gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Let's go to bed. I could use a nap after all of those flights." I grabbed his hand off of my hip and unstraddled him. With a smirk, he pulled himself off the couch and allowed me to lead him towards our bed.

I looked back at him when we were almost to the door. A mischievous smirk spread across his face. I quirked a questioning eyebrow at him and he shrugged nonchalantly in response. Deciding to ignore it, I turned back around to open the door, only to have Han let go of my hand, and sweep me up bridal style.

My shriek of shock turned into an amused laugh.

"I take it you missed me then?" I asked as I reached down and turned the handle for him.

"You have absolutely no idea." He replied as he stepped in and slammed the door behind us with his foot.

Z

"It was so aggravating; he did everything he possibly could to irritate me and make my life hell. Then the stupid hurricane popped up. You'd think with that many square feet in a five star hotel that I could find a way to avoid him, but no; that never worked. " I continued as I flopped on the end of the bed and kept running a comb through my hair that was still wet from the shower. "The sunsets were so amazing, though." I added as an afterthought.

The corners of Han's mouth were almost imperceptibly turned up in amusement as he watched me ramble on about the people I met and how many times I'd threatened to strangle Miles. I had left for what was supposed to be a month long planning trip to build a hotel in Cancun with my dad's old team member and my business partner. My stay was extended for another two weeks due to a series of delays and a massive storm that came up suddenly. I had been there for Han's birthday, but I had missed Christmas and almost didn't make it back today for New Year's Eve.

Han had considered coming, but he didn't mix well with Miles, so he decided to stay. I knew he wasn't exactly bored here by himself; his birthday present was a beaten up, old Aston Martin DB5 from a junkyard and parts money to fix it up. I had to pry him away from his new baby to get him to drive me to the airport.

"How's your car?" I asked when I realized that I had begun to repeat details.

The corners of his lips pulled up into a real smile as he reached over to my side of the bed and stole my pillow. The muscles in his arms and chest flexed as he fluffed it and put it behind him, propping up against the head board. The movement made the sheets slide even further down his naked torso until it clung just below the curve of his hip bone.

"It's beautiful. Looks just like the James Bond car." He stated sleepily.

"You've already finished it?" I asked. He nodded.

"I'll show you tonight." Even though he was staring up at the ceiling, I could still make out the gleam in his dark eyes. He was more excited about this than I'd seen him in a long time. My heart sank; I didn't want to put a damper on his excitement, but all I wanted to do was lay in that bed next to him and not get out for a week. I was exhausted.

"I was hoping we could stay in tonight." I told him gently. "Just stay out of the crowds, relax, catch up." His small, full mouth pulled down into a frown.

"It's New Year's Eve in Madrid." He deadpanned.

"I know. I've had a long couple days." I reminded. His chest rose and fell as he tried to contain a sigh.

"Just get back in bed with me for a few hours and rest, and then we'll go grab dinner and watch the fireworks. You won't regret it." He suggested as he pulled my pillow from behind his head and tossed it back on my side.

"Do you know how crowded this city is?" I asked incredulously. "In order to actually get dinner, you would have had to have made reservations last month."

"Just trust me." He muttered, sliding further under the sheet and settling down for a nap. With a sigh, I tossed my comb on my nightstand and joined him under the blankets.

"Your car better be worth it." I mumbled. The last thing I saw as I drifted off was his lopsided, sexy smirk.

Z

"Ellie, we need to leave soon." Han called through the bathroom door.

I sighed as I finished dabbing a bit of power on my nose; it was almost starting to peel from all of the sun I had gotten when I was hiding from Miles on the beach. I double checked all of my dark curls in the mirror until I was satisfied that none of them needed to be touched up. Considering how exhausted I felt, I didn't look bad. I had lined my big brown eyes and dusted on a shimmery eye shadow. I had had to put concealer on all of the sunburnt spots on my straight nose and my pointed chin, but over all, it was hard to tell that I had rolled out of bed and thrown on the least amount of makeup possible.

I had seen Han ironing a nice button up, so I had grabbed a red, body hugging mini dress. If I was going to be fighting the skanks off of him all night, then I was going to make sure he had to warn some guys off of me.

"I'm ready." I called as I opened the bathroom door with a little more force than necessary.

Han's back was to me as he rummaged through a dresser drawer. Starting at the noise, he turned around to glance at me before shutting the drawer and grabbing his blazer off the bed. The jerky movement was unusual for Han; everything he did was usually smooth and graceful.

"You look beautiful." He told me quietly as we started heading for the front door.

"You don't look so bad yourself." I shot back flirtily. His lips pulled off his white teeth in a smile.

We stayed in a comfortable silence as we walked down the carpeted halls and into the old elevator. A few seconds after the steel doors shut, I felt the pressure of Han's arm around my waist. Unconsciously, I moved closer into his body heat. He kept his arm around me as we strolled through the lobby and out onto the street.

Excited crowds lined the sidewalk already. The people ranged from families of tourists to drunk college kids in skimpy outfits that looked like they'd been bar hopping already. A heard several different languages being spoken all around me.

Han's hand slipped to the small of my back as he steered me through the swarms towards the garage a block away from the apartment. Crowded places made me very unhappy, but the excitement of the people was spreading to me. I started to feel giddy all the way to my travel weary bones. That was a sign that I was going to be delirious with exhaustion all night, get bitchy at Han at some point half way through dinner, and then pass out in the car on the way home so deeply that Han would have to carry me up to the apartment, but not even that dampened my spirits.

"How long until the fireworks?" I asked Han as he unlocked the garage door and held it open for me.

"Just enough time for dinner." He answered smoothly as he gently pushed me in and closed the door behind us.

My jaw dropped when I saw the Aston Martin sitting beside Han's Lexus; it had come a long way from the rust bucket I had had towed to the garage. Its silver curvy body had been polished until it gleamed. The chrome bumper on the front had been replaced and was dent-free. Everything looked seamlessly original, but I knew that wasn't true. Han had done an amazing job with it.

"It's beautiful." I told him as I reached out to touch the cold metal.

"Wait til you see how it runs." He told me proudly as he strolled past, pulling his keys out of his pocket as he went. A grin spread across my face as we both slid into the little coupe.

It started without a hitch the first time he turned the key. His face was still in a neutrally happy expression, but I could feel the same pride radiating off him that he had for his Nissan Silvia in Tokyo. Seeing him this happy made a wide grin spread across my face.

"Ready for the best dinner you've ever had in Madrid?" He asked as he hit the garage door opener. Light from the street flooded the garage as it began to rise.

"As much as we eat out at the best restaurants in Italy and Madrid, you're going to have to try pretty hard." I challenged. A smirk pulled at his lips.

"We'll see."

Z

"Where the hell are you taking me?" I asked me as he pressed the elevator button for the roof. He had taken me to a random building and dragged me straight into the elevator. Had I been with anyone but Han, I might have been getting nervous. "I hate surprises and this not a restaurant." I continued when he ignored me.

"No faith." He muttered. I huffed and leaned back against the elevator wall. I was starving and I was about to reach the bitchy phase of exhaustion. If he didn't get me to a restaurant quickly, then he was about to be in for a rough night of sarcasm and eye rolls.

Or not, seeing as how he was just as much of a smartass as I was and twice as good at cold shouldering people. He was annoyingly well prepared to handle my mood swings and I tended to get over them when someone handled all of my bullshit.

The elevator doors opened up and my annoyance dissipated. The roof was a terrace, overlooking one of the cities many plazas. Lights had been strung up the place to provide the perfect amount of lighting. A table with two place settings was sitting in the middle of the space. An elderly waiter was standing nearby pulling a bottle of champagne out of an ice bucket.

"Oh my God." I stated blankly. "This is beautiful."

"I had this planned for my mistress, but since you're home early-"He trailed off in a joking tone. I tore my eyes away from the table and punched his bicep. He chuckled and wrapped his arm around me. "Come on."

"How long have you had this planned?" I asked incredulously.

He shrugged. "A while."

"Han, it's too—" I began.

"Don't say much." He cut me off. "You've been worried about business bullshit for weeks; let me take care of you for one night."

I sighed as I sank into the chair the waiter pulled out for me. I had been completely consumed in planning this new business venture for months; letting go of all of the stress was good for me. I still couldn't believe that Han had planned a rooftop dinner where we would have an amazing view of the fireworks; I didn't know what to do with myself when I was the reason for so much fuss.

"Okay." I told him as I decided to just go with it. I picked up my champagne glass. "To the new year." I toasted him.

"To the new year."

Z

"When did you get so good at dancing?" I laughed Han spun me back to him and put his hand back on my waist. After our fabulous dinner was through and the waiter was thanked and dismissed, I had demanded that Han dance with me. He had rolled his eyes at me, but he did it anyway.

"It's almost midnight." He told me as he stopped his movements.

"How close?" I asked him.

I was having more fun than I had in a long time. I could feel the flush from the alcohol and the laughter spreading across my cheeks. Han was decidedly more composed than I was, but he still looked like he was enjoying himself.

"Two minutes." He replied as he pulled me towards the edge of the roof, stopping to unplug the lights along the way.

"What's your resolution, Han?" I asked him as we leaned on railing. Because I was so short, the rail was annoyingly chest height.

"Haven't decided yet." He answered as he looked at his watch. "One minute now. Am I going to get my New Year's kiss when midnight hits?" He joked.

"Not if it gets in the way of me watching the fireworks." I teased back. He chuckled, obviously expecting my answer because I had told him the exact same thing the year before.

Below us in the massive crowd, the countdown started. I pressed my hands on the railing and bounced up on my toes as I waited for the countdown to reach zero like it would somehow allow me to see better. Han steadied me by stepping behind me and wrapping his strong arms around me as the countdown hit zero.

I leaned back against Han as the first few rounds of fireworks started popping off. I found myself laughing as the excitement of the crowd below became infections. Their howls of drunken joy could be heard from the streets several stories below. Han's callous fingers trailed over my hands. I intertwined my fingers with his and let him play with my fingers without looking away.

I had seen the fireworks from my balcony the year before, but I had forgotten how beautiful it was. The explosions of light and color across the Madrid skyline had me captivated. I felt like a small child seeing something shiny. It was borderline embarrassing how excited I was to watch the show, but I didn't care.

My attention was quickly pulled elsewhere when I felt a cold weight settle on my left hand. My chin jerked downward as I pulled my hand out of Han's grip and held it out in front of me. I inhaled sharply at the shock of what I was seeing. My knees went weak and I was suddenly glad he was holding on to me.

The fireworks sent sparks of light off of a massive diamond set on a thin band. Several small diamonds on the band also sparked in the light, but they had nothing on the center one. It was beautiful. It was huge without being clunky on my skinny fingers. It looked feminine and dainty and medium-sized house expensive.

"Oh my God." I finally choked out. He chuckled and leaned down so his lips were almost at my ear lobe. I would have shivered at his hot breath if I hadn't been in such shock.

"Does it fit?" He asked cockily.

"You know the answer to that." I answered numbly as I watched the light reflect of the stone. It was such a perfect fit it looked like the band had been made exactly for my finger.

"Is that a yes then?" He pressed. His light, arrogant tone gave away the fact he already knew; he was just making me say it.

"A yes to what?" I asked, trying to pull up an equally arrogant smirk, but I was so close to hyperventilating it wasn't working. I wasn't even sure why I was hyperventilating; joy, excitement, the fact that I was now responsible for not losing something so expensive, the sheer terror at the thought of planning a wedding.

"Eliana Gonzalez, will you marry me?" He asked. I turned in his grip and craned my neck to see his face; something difficult to do when I was a foot shorter and chest to chest with him. He leaned down and I could see the smirk threatening to pull up the corners of his lips in the firework light.

"Yes, Han Lue. I will, but I really don't want a wedding." I admitted bluntly, still in too much shock to realize I had almost ruined a beautiful moment. Han seemed to be expecting that answer because he chuckled lightly and wrapped his arms around me tighter.

"Then we elope."


	3. Chapter 3

**A successful marriage involves falling in love many times; always with the same person. **

**Mignon McLaughlin**

**Z**

Pinks and oranges filled the sky above us as the sun dipped towards the ocean. The last rays were hitting the ice blue water causing the waves and ripples to be blindingly bright. The thin fabric of my dress swirled around my legs as the wind swept around me from off the sparkling Mediterranean. It carried with it the smell of salt and the soothing sounds of the waves breaking on the wet sand. It whipped my hair and made goose bumps travel up my arms from the cold caress. I didn't really mind the cold, though. I was thoroughly distracted by Han's full lips capturing my own in kiss that was probably inappropriate in front of a preacher.

Eventually, when we were both about to suffocate from lack of air, we pulled away. My mouth curled up in a smile as Han rested his forehead on mine. I opened my eyes to see him smiling too.

"Buena suerte." The preacher whispered quietly. I heard him close his Bible and walk away, but I was too focused on Han to care.

"Happy, Mrs. Seoul-Oh?" Han teased quietly. Amusement colored his voice. I laughed as I opened my eyes and moved my face away from his.

"Does that mean I should change the name on my fake i.d. to Leia?" I joked with a grin as I tried to let go of his hands and pull away. Not having that, he pulled on my arms sending falling against his chest. I chuckled as I reached up to grab his shoulders and steady myself. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer.

"I never should have brought that up." He muttered with an eye roll.

"I already know you're a secret dork." I told with a laugh. He snorted and I shoved him playfully.

Before I knew what was happening, my lips were on his again. I pushed myself up on my toes, arching into him to steady myself, letting my hands wander up to the back of his neck. His arms wrapped around my waist where they stayed for a minute before he changed his mind and let his hands wander across my back, over my hips, and all over my body, pulling me closer to him.

This day was perfect. Just me, him, and the priest on a secluded stretch of Spanish beach next to the Mediterranean. There was nothing to take away from our moment: no bitchy bridesmaids, no church full of judgey wedding guest, no family feuds. Everything about it was simple.

I hadn't even really bothered with a wedding dress. I wore a short dress in a filmy white, flowy fabric with a sweet heart neckline. The only piece of jewelry I wore was a chain holding my engagement ring around my neck. My hair was left naturally wavy and pulled up into a simple pony tail with an orchid pinned at the band. I'm pretty sure the only make up I had put on was mascara and powder. Han had worn khakis and a white button up

There was nothing more beautiful than seeing him waiting for me with the priest. I was going to remember the way he looked at me when he saw me for the first time until the day I died. It made everything feel real; it finally hit me that this was forever. For the first time, I saw us growing old together, and that made me love him even more.

"Come on. We gotta go." He cut his eyes towards the growing storm cloud down the beach. Lightening flashed up in the cloud.

"We have enough time to watch the sunset." I insisted as I grabbed his hand and turned him towards where the sun was dipping down.

"This is typical; me looking at the rain, and you looking at the sunsshine." Han joked.

"We balance each other out." I answered with a smile.

As I stood next to him watching the sky, I kept absentmindedly playing with my wedding band with my thumb. It was a simple silver band that was almost narrow enough to be a wire. Han didn't have a band at all; he had a very expensive watch with the date engraved on the back plate. He had never liked wearing rings.

The top of the sun had just disappeared when a louder crack of thunder sounded above us and fat raindrops started to fall with the wind. I watched him look up at the darkening sky above us before turning to give me a pointed look. I shrugged.

"You knew what you were getting into when you chose to watch the sun with me." He snorted and shook his head.

"The preacher tried told me we might as well write our own vows because we were butchering the original. That would have fit in yours perfectly." He joked as he started pulling me down the beach towards our beach house.

"That would have been awful. You're laconic and I'm emotionally retarded." I exclaimed as I started jogging.

He started to chuckle.

"What so funny? We're about to get wet." I reminded as I pointed back to threatening cloud.

"I love you." He answered. I bounced onto my toes and pecked his cheek.

"I love you back."

Z

"Han, no!" I shrieked before I dissolved into laughter when he wrapped his arms around my waist and gently tipped me back into bed. I spun around in his arms and lightly smacked his chest with both of my fists. He grunted and tightened his hold.

Outside our windows, a bright flash of lightening lit up the trees bend double by the wind. The soothing sound of rain against the roof quickened to a driving, angry pace. Thunder rumbled as even more intense amount of lightening split the sky in bright, forked streaks. A loud clap of thunder that signified something being struck startled me and I moved closer into Han. He seemed to take that as a sign I was staying bed and pulled the pillow under his head so he could get more comfortable.

"Don't you want cupcakes, Han?" I asked him breathlessly as I tried to wiggle free. He loosened his grip on me and I propped myself up on my elbow so I could look at him.

He hadn't said a word about the fact that I was now his wife since we left the beach, but his full lips had been turned up at the corners at the corners all night in that sexy almost smirk he always had. It looked even more attractive now with his hair mussed up from me tugging on it in an attempt to get him to let me up.

"Can I have a sandwich with that cupcake?" He asked cockily.

"You'll get exactly what I bring you." I told him cheekily as I flicked his nose and untangled myself.

He shook his head with a snort as he watched me pull on my robe and fix my hair in the mirror. I opened my mouth to make another sarcastic comment at him, but I was cut off when my phone rang. I snatched it off the dresser, and frowned at the unknown number.

"Who's calling us now?" He asked as he propped himself up on his elbows.

"No idea. I'll be back." I waved over my shoulder as I flipped my phone open. "Hello?"

"Miss Delgado?" A very clipped, official sounding voice came over the line.

"Yes? Who's this?" My eyebrows knitted together as I ran through the list of people who could possibly be calling me past midnight on my wedding night.

The man paused and I heard papers shuffling.

_Great. The architect's having issues in Cancun. _I thought as I reached for the big box of cupcakes.

"Miss Delgado, I'm Major Denton with U.S. Army." The man's voice sounded even more grave than before, if that was possible. My grip on a cupcake tightened until it crumpled.

"Is something wrong?" I could already feel the panic rising. I knew the answer; I'd already had this conversation once before.

"I am sorry to inform you that your sister, Hanna Rodriguez, was killed early yesterday morning." He droned. There was a touch of sorrow and pity to his voice, but the overall statement was so clinical I felt sick.

"What were the circumstances? She was in Germany; that's not exactly a war zone." I snapped as the tears filled my eyes.

Hana was my best friend and the closest thing to a sister I had ever had. She was my brother's fiancée. After he was killed, she had decided that she wanted to travel and had ended up in Japan. She was the person that pulled Han out of the burning car. Afterwards, she took him to a condemned hospital where we were both treated by an old Japanese doctor with army friends and huge grudge against Kamata.

We had remained in touch and got even closer than we were when she was dating my brother. She was the first person Han and I told about our engagement. We had been planning to visit her in a few months when she had some leave.

"I realize how hard this is for you to hear." The man continued. He sounded completely exhausted; I wondered how many calls he had made that night.

"It's even harder not knowing." I countered. It sounded meaner than I meant for it to.

"She was part of a convoy moving satellite parts. It was attacked, and every single person was killed." The man admitted slowly. A part deep within me stirred. I'd taken out people that did things like this before; I could do it again.

"Do you know who is responsible?" I asked eagerly as the tears began to fall.

"No." He spoke sternly.

"Surely you have a lead, or know of a similar attack?" I pressed further.

"Miss Delgado, I assure you that even if I did know, that information would be classified." He sounded strangely appalled at my curiosity; or maybe he was just ready to hang up so he could be done and go to bed.

"Of course, sir." I finished politely.

"I am sorry for your loss." For the first time, he sounded really, truly sincere and that made the tears come out.

"I'm sorry for yours as well." I returned from around the lump in my throat.

"God bless." He ended as he hung up quickly.

Hot tears poured down my face as the news really sunk in. I tried to wipe them away and only succeeded in smearing cupcake icing all over my cheeks. Any attempts to get it off only made it worse and got it in my hair. Frustrated, I just sat in the floor and cried into my hands.

A few minutes later, I felt Han beside me. Trying to save a little face, I straightened up a little and started to trying to scrape the tears and icing away. Wordlessly, he dropped to his knees beside me and started to help. The gentle brush of his fingers on my cheek felt better than I really wanted to admit.

"I forgot your sandwich." I finally murmured. He kissed my forehead.

"What's going on?" He asked soothingly.

"Hanna' s gone." I sobbed. I tried to hold it all in, but it wasn't working. He scooted closer and put my head on his naked shoulder. For a minute I tried to resist, but then I gave up and buried my face in his neck. "She was moving something and her convoy was attacked."

His breath caught in his throat. He had been attached to Hanna too. I'm pretty sure at one point she had told him that a connection to her wasn't optional because she was practically his sister and she could have easily left him in the street.

"Han I feel like she was the only blood family I had left, even though she wasn't." I sobbed into his neck. He scooped me up off the floor and deposited me in his lap. From this new position, he could hold me tighter.

He stayed like that, holding me and stroking my hair. He didn't offer fake words of comfort or try to tell me everything was fine. He just let me cry into his neck.

Several times I tried to pull myself together and make it stop, but the tears would flow again. Finally I gave up on pulling myself together, let it go, and cried myself to sleep

Z

There was a memorial set up where the soldiers died in Berlin; it was just pile of flowers, flags, and candles against a building that was a little damaged. There was a giant hole through the wall that someone said was made by a car.

The road nearby was charred with debris scattered everywhere and orange spray paint cutting the black to mark the final resting place of the overturned military vehicles. The way in and out was blocked with a police barricade and personnel from all different organizations were swarming over every inch of the damage. I could tell by looking at it that they were professionals and didn't leave a trace.

It didn't take long for my stomach to twist at the morbid sight of the carnage.

The memorial didn't make me any less sick. I kept seeing pictures of Hanna posing with her friends or smiling in her uniform. She looked happy in every single one of them—something that didn't shock me considering how much she had loved Berlin; it was by far her favorite place on the globe.

Han slipped his arm around my shoulder from behind.

This was the closest I would get to going to her funeral because she was being buried next to my brother at home. I hadn't gone to his funeral either; I just couldn't take it. I made it through half of my dad's before the Yakuza had shown up. I wondered if refusing to see them off made me a bad daughter and sister.

"Dude, I heard they lit everything on fire and just let them burn to death." A young soldier commented to his friend as they walked by. Han tightened his grip on my shoulders, but change the fact that all of a sudden, there was no air. I couldn't watch the endless stream of people staring at the aftermath, couldn't handle knowing that somewhere in the US the coffin going into the ground, couldn't handle knowing that Hanna was really gone, and I definitely couldn't handle thinking about her dying painfully like that. I jerked around out of Han's grip and started walking away. A few minutes later I heard his boots hitting the ground behind me, so I slowed down to let him catch up.

"Ellie." He whispered as he moved my hair off my neck to cool me off. I leaned into his touch and let him wrap me in his arms again.

"I need to steal something." I muttered breathlessly. His face changed from confused and concerned to a weary amusemed. He hugged me tighter and bent down to my ear, pulling off the baseball hat I had been using to hide my face in the process.

"Three days from now I'm going to pick up some cars from my partner." His lips brushed my ear.

"Can we make that tonight?" I asked seriously.

He paused for a minute, letting his hand absentmindedly stroke my hair as he weighed the decision.

"I'll make the call."

Z

Han's partner was a fat old Spaniard who liked to pretend he was a big time gangster; basically the just past middle aged version of DK. He didn't need the money from it; he was old real estate money with a family name that went back centuries. He just did it simply because he was bored and looking for excitement in his old age.

Their business consisted of stealing cars and either selling them off or occasionally using them for parts. Most of the cars were shipped overseas somewhere where they ended up in the showroom of a luxury used car lot to be snatched up by some guy in the middle of his midlife crisis. I had always thought it was a sad end to an old beauty, but Han wasn't quite as sentimental as I was.

"Ready?" I asked him as I sped down the Autobahn in an inconspicuous black Mercedes.

He smirked at me from the passenger's seat before flipping his bangs out of the way. His eyes lit up with anticipation. The corners of my mouth unconsciously pulled up when I turned my eyes back on the road. It wasn't a real smile, but it was getting there.

"This exit." Han called as he read directions off his phone.

A red SUV went by us like it was going in reverse. I cut over in front of it and pulled off the Autobahn. He directed me over a few streets before we reached a nicely landscaped house in a neighborhood of half mansions. When he gestured that we were there, I pulled over and killed the engine.

"A 2006 Aston Martin V10 Vanquish is sitting in the garage." He told me as he pocketed his cell phone.

"Let's go." I replied eagerly as I opened my door and gestured for Han to follow.

The cool night air bit into the exposed skin of my neck and hands, but I barely noticed at all. My heart was pounding in my ears and the adrenaline was taking the pain away. It felt better to be out here than I remembered. It had been a while since I'd been out here with Han. Work had kind of gotten in the way.

Han jogged past me so he could get to the garage door first. While he tried it to make sure it was locked, I went ahead and pulled out my lock picks. Unsurprisingly, the door was locked tight. Within a minute, I had it picked at we were inside, staring at the beautiful white Aston.

"I've missed this." I told him as I ran my hand down the front quarter panel to the hood where the latch was.

"I've missed watching this." He replied with a smile.

A tossed him a flirty glance over my shoulder as I started to work. While I was getting the doors opened, he gently slid up the garage door. We worked quickly and silently; at that point, we didn't even need to speak to know what the other was thinking. He was sitting in the passenger seat and I was about to turn over the engine when his phone started ringing obnoxiously.

He grabbed for it quickly and got it silenced before he glanced at the caller ID.

"It's Dom." He said quickly before he flipped it open.

"Dom?" My good mood soared. Dom's phone calls meant a job. A job meant a distraction; a break from the monotony I'd forced myself into.

Han's face scrunched in confusion as he listened to what was going on. He said a few things back and forth with Dom that I didn't really pay attention to. Finally, he hung up and turned to face me. Right on cue, my phone rang in my pocket.

"Let's get out of here. He can tell me." I suggested as I turned over the engine. I pulled out of the drive way as I pulled my phone out.

"Hello." I answered as I stopped alongside the Mercedes. Han got out and signaled for me drive. The second he shut his door I was speeding down the street, back towards the Autobahn.

"Ellie." Dom's deep voice came over the line.

"Dom. It's been a while." I replied as started pushing the Aston as hard as it would go. It responded and shot forward smoothly like a jet.

"It has." He was slow to answer, like he was stopping to think about everything he said. "I know things didn't go the way we wanted last time, but you're still family. "

He paused and let me take that in.

"We've got a job."

**AN: I know the attack that Hobbs went to them after was in Moscow, but they can't exactly go back there, so I switched it to Berlin. **

**Sorry this chapter is really scattered. I bootlegged the new movie from England and have been watching it a week early and writing as I watch, which means I have not really focused on this chapter. Who ships Hobbs and Riley? I totally do. **

**If y'all could give me a lot of feedback on what's good or what's not from here on out, that would be great. This is going to be my last story, and I want it to be awesome. **


	4. London

** I woke up today in London**

**As the plane was touching down**

Z

London was my Tokyo.

It was the one place on earth I had dreamed of going for as long as I could remember. Back in the projects of San Juan where I grew up, I never thought I would have the money to make the trip. Years later when I was looking for places to settle down after I left Han, London had been at the top of my list, but then Madrid caught my attention. Being there now brought a smile to my face and dulled some of the pain of the past week.

Han had given me hell for my attachment to this place, but from what I understood, he had been the same way with Tokyo. Well, minus the being glued to the car window like an excited child in the taxi; I appreciated him not commenting on that one. I wanted to pretend that he hadn't noticed, but I could tell from the pull on his mouth that it was taking every bit of the control he had in him to not smile.

"This is it." The taxi driver finally broke the silence as he moved off to the side of the road.

A fairly inconspicuous, brand new building stood tall and straight on a busy road. It was a hell of a lot different than anything I'd ever worked in before, and it was definitely a far cry from the dilapidated factory we called home in Rio. I guess working for the good guys had its advantages.

I snuck a look at Han as I slid out of the taxi beside me. His face was a pleasant neutral, but even though his aviators were blocking his eyes, I could tell they were gleaming with excitement. This was Han's perfect job; we would be taking out an impossible opponent with probably the most high tech equipment from an upscale hide out in the middle of a rich part of town. If it wasn't made for him, I don't know what is.

We pulled our bags out of the trunk and walked into the pristine lobby together. It smelled like caulk, paint, and dust; even though it was spotlessly clean, you could tell it was a work in progress. Han pushed the shiny elevator button that hadn't been worn and smudged by use yet.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him glance over at me, then look me up and down. I looked a lot better than I did when I showed up in Rio; I was wearing dark skinny jeans and a girly mint blouse that actually fit my frame. My leather boots were polished and clean. My hair was neatly curled and pulled back off my makeup covered face. The few tiny pieces of jewelry I had on were all gifts from Han.

When I joined the team in Rio, I was wearing oil stained, ripped jeans, a rumpled shirt that was way too big for my skinny frame, and dusty work boots that had a hole in the toe. I couldn't have been bothered to fix my scraggly hair or do anything to my face, which had made me look years younger than I actually was. The team had welcomed me with open arms, but I could still see the doubt that I was competent written all over their faces.

I had changed a lot in two years; all for the better. I was a lot more confident and mature. Back in Rio, I had the ability to do my job well, but I was too mousy to really speak in front of the team or do anything without Dom's go ahead. It wasn't going to be like that this time.

Han gently brushed my side bangs behind my ear and I knew his razor sharp, eagle eyes had found the one thing that didn't look so great on me right now; the dark circles under my eyes.

"How do you feel?" He asked sweetly.

"I couldn't sleep; I felt sick all night, but I feel better now." I admitted as he let his hand fall. "Lack of sleep's kind of getting to me, though; look, I slammed my fingers in a damn door this morning." I held up my left hand to him, the tips of my pinky and ring finger obviously swollen. My wedding band sat innocently on my middle finger where it would stay until the swelling went down.

Han chuckled lightly as the stainless steel doors slid open and we moved our bags into the elevator. Han didn't even try to fight me as I grabbed my own because he knew I was way too stubborn to let him carry it for me. We'd had that fight at least once during every single trip we'd ever been on.

"Only you could manage that one." He deadpanned as he gestured to my fingers.

"I wasn't paying attention and my caffeine hadn't kicked in." I defended weakly.

"Might want to keep it on that finger until they don't have time to give you hell." He teased as he brushed his finger tip around the thin band. I opened my mouth to retort, but then I realized how bad they really would tease me. I was a lot bolder than I used to be, but I still blushed far too easily and they'd have a field day with that.

Han chuckled again. "We'll tell them at the barbeque when it's all over."

"Give them some credit; they'll figure it out before it's over." I told him brightly as the elevator door opened.

Brian was standing at a table covered in computer monitors, shiny, new, and ready to go. Several more tables equally stocked with top of the line equipment were spread out across the room. A sparkling, fresh off the factory floor BMW was parked in the corner of the room, just waiting for me to coax it up to our standards.

He turned when he heard the doors open. A bright, toothpaste commercial smile flashed with his bright blue eyes when he saw us come in. When we reached him, I was wrapped in a quick hug and a kiss was pressed into my cheek. Han got the usual one armed bro hug before he yelled his greeting to Dom.

I pleasantly shot back the proper small talk to Brian as I looked Dom over. The big man was standing in front of the floor to ceiling windows with his arms crossed like a statue. He smiled back at Han, but it never reached his eyes. This was the worst I'd ever seen him look. His dark circles were worse than mine. His bulging muscles were obviously knotted with tension, something that I had never seen in Dom before. He had always been quiet and calculating, but this quiet made me a little nervous.

I dropped my bag on a table top as I wandered further inside the hide out to get a better look at where we were working. I was staring at a semi-circle of monitors with the team we were taking out displayed in full view when Dom caught sight of me. He spun almost all the way around to look at me before he exchanged a pointed look with Han over my head that I didn't quite understand. Han shrugged amicably in response.

"It's good to see you again, Dom." I said as I moved closer to him. He left his place at the window to meet me in the middle and pull me in a hug.

"How was Moscow?" Dom asked as he gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

"It went off without a hitch and our man that got shot is now the happiest he's ever been." I reported as I hugged him back. It was like wrapping my arms around a tree.

"Glad to hear it." He muttered before he turned back to face the window overlooking the city.

"Nice place." Han called from the other side of the floor as opened up the chips he'd been saving in his bag.

"Knew you'd like it." Dom called back.

While Han wandered over to the monitors with Brian, I moved over to the cars. They were totally factory tuned, but I could work my magic on them in no time. I was running my hands over the cool steel, plotting out my next move, when the elevator doors slid open again. The click of boot heels announced newest arrival.

_Oh shit. _I froze leaning over the engine. I had been so busy mourning Hanna that I had forgotten one very important thing: Gisele.

Gisele was the only other female team member aside from Mia. She was all long legs, leather, guns, recklessness and motorcycles; in short, everything that turned Han on before the accident in Tokyo. If he hadn't have settled down a little after that, I truly believe they would have been perfect for each other.

But he did settle down. The almost fatal incident had changed his way of thinking about everything. I just don't think he realized how much until he was travelling around Europe with her after Rio. He left her after he found me again in Madrid, and she did not take it well.

"Hey, Gisele." I heard Brian greet her.

There was a shuffle of movement that meant he was wrapping her in a hug. My heart started pounding as I heard her return the greeting before she asked about Mia and the baby. I risked a look back and saw Dom watching me out of the corner of his eye. She strolled into my field of view a few seconds later. She looked the same as the last time I had seen her; tall, booted, and wearing tight pants with an expensive sleeveless top.

Was it bad to not know how I felt about her being here? I hadn't thought about her once since we got the call. I knew I didn't have to worry about Han around her. He had worked very hard to get me back and had cared enough about me to _marry_ me; he deserved my trust around her. The only question was did she deserve any sort of trust?

I knew exactly what Hanna would say about her when I told her.

My vision swam as I heard Han and Gisele awkwardly say hello before I heard something being moved on one of the metal tables. I also heard the scuff of boots getting closer.

"I'm okay." I turned around and gave Han a fake smile that I knew he saw through immediately. I just decided I might as well drop it. "Tonight's Skype night."

"I remembered." His lips pressed together in thin line; a sign that had always meant he was upset and trying to keep it out of the rest of his face.

"How are you holding up, Han?" I asked him honestly as I reached for a wrench.

"I was looking forward to her having time off." He answered after a moment of thought. That was Han speak for 'I miss her'. "When this is over, do you want to go see her? Get some closure?"

"I'd like that. I need it more than I ever thought I would." I told him honestly. He nodded before he pressed a light kiss to my forehead.

"As soon as he gets our paperwork done, I'll get the flight set up." He flashed me a white smile as he moved off to a column so he could prop and eat his snack.

Before I even had time to reply, the elevator opened one more time.

A few seconds later, Tej yelled "Thank God! Finally some equipment I can work with! Way better than that trash in Rio."

I gave up my work and propped against the side of the car as Rome turned the corner and fist bumped Han. I accidentally made eye contact with Gisele, but we dropped it quickly.

"Way better." She muttered as she played with a lethal looking gun.

"Look who came all the way back from Mother Russia! How you doing, baby girl?" He yelled as his bright teeth shone from his grin.

"I couldn't miss a chance to see you." I shot back. He laughed before turning around to look at the equipment filling the room.

The sound of the elevator open signaled the arrival of the last member of our team. I tensed a little bit as the sound of boots hitting concrete around the corner could be heard from the massive agent. I was surprised when I heard two voices speaking softly.

"Anyone heard from Leo or Santos?" Brian cut right to the chase before we got started.

"Yeah, last time anyone's seen them they were hitting up the casinos in Monte Carlo." Han answered.

"Hey, I thought that was our last job, Brian. And who's paying for all this equipment? The taxpayers? So now we working for the Hulk." Rome rapid fired off questions before he flexed his arms inward in a bad impression of a body builder. I'd seen Twinkie do the same thing when he was explaining to me why Bruce Banner was the best Marvel character ever created. The twitch at Han's mouth said he remembered too.

Brian smiled slightly as the boots got louder, meaning the Hulk definitely heard that. Rome was none the wiser.

"Is that what we doing?" He continued. "Why do I smell baby oil?" He trailed off.

"You keep running your pie hole, you're going to smell an ass kicking." Hobbs finally turned the corner and came into my view. The only thing different about him was the buff, similarly dressed female agent trailing behind him. She got in Rome's face before she followed Hobbs to a big table in the middle. Rome looked a little disturbed by her closeness.

"Alright," Dom brought everyone to order with a single word. He finally left the window and walked towards the table. "You've got the best team in the world right in front of you. Give them a reason to stay."

Hobbs glanced around at the people in the room. He focused on me for a long second with raised eyebrows, but he didn't comment.

"Alright, our target's name is Owen Shaw. Former Major in the SAS, Spec Ops soldier. He ran the UK division in Kabul and Basra." He dropped his file on the table.

"Damn, we talking vehicular warfare. Best in the world. " Tej joined Hobbs at the table, and everyone else slowly started moving that way.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Rome edging over to ask Han a question. In response, Han turned his chip bag upside down and gave him a pointed look when nothing fell out.

"For years they've been running jobs in Europe. Their most recent jobs have graduated them to a whole new level. Three targets, highly specific." Hobbs began.

"Have the other jobs been on the level of Berlin, or is that just the biggest?" I asked slowly. His eyebrows shot up.

"That's the biggest, but the others have been close. We tried to keep it out of the press as much as possible. They hit Moscow and it caused almost as much damage as the gang war last December." My lips curled up in a smirk. I might have lost Hanna, but I knew that if anyone could take him out it was us. There weren't going to be any more memorials. "Do you know anything else about Shaw?"

"I lost my sister in Berlin. That's all I know about Shaw, but I can check with people on our side. They may know something you don't or know somebody that does." My smirk faded out with the mention of Hanna's name and my mouth was pressed back into a hard line. Hobbs nodded.

Hobbs attempted to continue, but Rome started begging change off of Tej.

"Damn, you're a millionaire and you're still trying to ask for money?" Tej snapped at him as he dropped the change from his pockets into Rome's waiting palm.

"That's how you stay a millionaire." Rome deadpanned as he headed towards the snack machine in the corner. Han looked more than a little annoyed at the interruption that took place right in front of him.

"So what does this all mean?" Brian brought the conversation back around to something more serious.

"Our best guess is that Shaw's crew is building a Nightshade device." Hobbs answered.

"Which is?" Gisele snapped when no one said anything.

"A tech bomb which has the ability to block an entire military communication grid for twenty-four hours."

"Blind a soldier for a single second in a fight, and he dies. Blind a country for twenty four hours; the loss of life is unthinkable. This could be worth billions to the right buyer."

"Really? Why didn't we just steal that shit?" Tej muttered.

"Hey, man! Which one of these is a dollar?" Rome interrupted from the vending machine, waving a Euro.

Settling it once and for all with an eye roll, Hobbs pulled out his gun.

"It's on the house." He snarked as the glass in the vending machine shattered. I jumped when the gun went off.

"I want you to help me catch Shaw." He went straight back to point while Rome shook the glass off his candy. "He only has one piece left before he gets what he needs and I intend to stop him before he gets it. And I know you guys are a family; I'm offering you a chance right now to make that family whole again."

He dropped a thin file with a picture paper clipped to the front right in front of Dom. There was a woman, dark haired and tanned skinned, wearing a wife beater and leather jacket in black and white. She was looking down, but I could tell she was beautiful just from her profile. Dom's face changed when he saw her; it was still unreadable, but it had softened considerably.

I could tell how much he loved her just from that look. She had been gone for years, but it looked like nothing had changed for him at all. I couldn't imagine what losing her had been like for him. I knew their story from Han, including her death during a drug run.

Han had gotten the call when we were just getting ready for bed. I dozed off after he left to answer his phone and when I woke up, he still wasn't back. I found him sitting on our couch, glassy eyed and drunk, with a bottle of whisky resting on his knee. If that was what he went through, I couldn't imagine Dom and Mia's heartbreak.

I also couldn't imagine why she didn't come back. Something was off about that.

"You want to make this family whole again? Get us to Letty; we'll get you Shaw. I want full pardons all around." Brian took control for Dom.

"I can't promise you that." Hobbs admitted.

"Yes you can." Brian insisted.

"There's the deal; take it or leave it." Dom backed him up with a cocky smirk, already knowing he had won the argument.

"You get me Shaw, I'll get your pardons." He finally caved. His eye cut over to me for a split second. "Do you even need a pardon?"

"I got into some trouble about a year ago." I answered honestly.

"Doing what?" He pressed.

"Stealing and lighting things on fire. I mostly kept it contained to Moscow." I shrugged at him as he exhaled sharply and turned his attention back to Brian. Han and I shared a quick look that somehow no one noticed.

"This time things are different. We're not dealing with cops. We're not dealing with drug dealers. This is a whole different level." He stopped at let it sink it to the team.

"We getting paid, right?" Rome broke the silence and everybody sighed.

Z

"Either come in, or go out; I can't take the leaning on the door frame." I glanced at Han from my spot at the sink where I brushing out my hair.

He moved slowly, shutting the door behind him, until he was standing beside me in the bathroom mirror. I looked up at him as he ran his fingertips through my hair before he trailed them down my neck and across my shoulder.

"What's wrong? Afraid Rome will wear you out at the bar?" I whispered. I shifted my weight until I was facing him completely. I expected him to let his hand drop and to start getting ready to leave, but instead he moved his fingers to my jaw before he pressed a light, gentle kiss to my lips.

"I think I can handle him." He replied smoothly.

"Yo Han, we're ready to go! Tej found a pack of cards so this time I can really kick your ass." Rome yelled from the hallway outside our room, causing Han to snort.

"Well, we now know how thin the walls are." I joked as he called Han's name one more time. It was a heck of a lot louder than it should have been. "What's bothering you?"

"I wanted to see how you really were." Han stated as he pulled back.

"I survive grief by staying busy. This is the best thing for me." I forced a smile as I picked up my hair brush.

"I think it's a little more than that." He deadpanned as he leaned back on the counter, blocking my view of the mirror. I sighed.

"Being back is weird. I feel like I bailed out on them at one of the worst times possible." I finally admitted what had been bothering me for a while. Han chuckled.

"They respect you for walking away from ten million dollars without thinking about yourself to go to a family member that needed you. If you would have stayed for the job, I'm not sure Dom would trust you being back." He told me over Rome's obnoxious yelling and banging on the door.

"I—" I knew I need to reply so he could leave, but my mind went blank.

"Don't ever let Gisele tell you that you didn't deserve to be trusted." He turned to leave, kissing me on the cheek as he opened the door. "You belong in this family just as much as anyone else."

And with that, he was gone. Rome's obnoxiously loud mouth faded out down the hall.

I smiled faintly as I dropped my brush back on the sink.

For the first time, I really felt like a member of Team Toretto.

I felt like I belonged with them. I still missed Hanna with everything I had, but finally feeling apart of this team helped a little bit. They reminded me so much of my dad, my brother, and Hanna. They were just like the blood family that had I had been without for way too long.

**AN: Big thank you to my new beta Comp Yes. **

**I also really appreciate the support for this story. Please keep up the feedback coming. I really enjoy reading it. **

**Quote- 3 Doors Down- Landing in London. One of my favorite songs ever.**


	5. Chapter 5

** "Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim." **

**Bertrand Russell**

**Z**

It felt like I had just blinked when I felt the blankets move and the mattress dip under a new weight. I knew I couldn't have been out more than fifteen minutes. I shifted over, giving Han more room to lie down since I was taking up most of his side of the bed. The movement stopped immediately.

"You don't have to be quiet. I'm awake." I murmured softly.

He sighed tiredly before he slipped all the way under the blankets and struggled to get comfortable on the flat pillows. He finally settled on his stomach.

"I couldn't sleep because I was thinking." I answered the question before he could ask it.

"What about?" He sounded like he could drop into a yearlong nap in a second.

"Why didn't she try?" That got his attention. His weight rocked to the side and I could picture him looking at me in confusion. I tried to look at him, but the few bars of city light not stopped by the curtains did nothing to illuminate his face.

"He left her because he thought he was protecting her. He made sure she couldn't follow. She was probably seriously injured and after that gave up." He explained sleepily.

"She was willing to risk death and prison and everything else to get him immunity. Why not at least send a 'fuck you and have a nice life' letter to him in prison? His trial was international news; she would have heard about it. There's just something not right about it." I argued.

"Nice to know how you would handle that situation." He replied acidly.

"Are you planning on life in prison anytime soon? Because if you are, I'll go ahead and give you a heads up; leave me like that and I'll show up to the trial just to strangle you." I rolled over on my side, burying deep in the comforter. He snorted.

"You realize you'd end up in the cell next to me."

"Well, it wouldn't be the worst date we've ever had."

"What is worse than that?" He asked incredulously.

"Moscow." I scrunched my face at the memory of Harper brazenly walking in on us making out like teenagers.

"That doesn't count." He shot back.

The silence between us got heavy. With his added body heat, I soon got pleasantly warm and sleepy. My eyelids started to really droop and my body felt heavy. I was almost out when I felt Han squirm to get comfortable beside me.

"Try not to blame her for Hanna. None of this really makes sense. She could be stuck like you in Tokyo." He whispered.

I let the weight of his words settle between us. Right now we were chasing a ghost; there was a disconnect between the woman I'd heard stories about and the woman shooting soldiers. I could tolerate her for the moment, but I wasn't sure how long that would last. When the time came, would I be able to see her as family or would she just be an enemy?

Z

The next morning I woke up confused. It took several seconds of staring around the room to finally remember where I was.

It was obviously late morning. The room was brighter than I thought it would be from the sun hitting the curtains. Lots of light was creeping in from around the edges. Han was already gone for the day; I could tell by his open suitcase and a wet towel from his shower draped over a chair back.

Usually I at least heard him start moving around in the bathroom, but apparently I was more tired than I thought.

With a sigh, I settled back down into the comforter. I was completely unwilling to give up my little pocket of warmth, but I knew that sooner or later I would have to. Outside our room I could hear someone stirring in the hall. Everyone else was probably already gathered downstairs.

I was dozing off again when a loud bang echoed off the door before it swung inward.

"Hey yo, Han! Elllie's not in her room. Have-" Rome took one step in and stopped dead.

"What?" I blinked at him sleepily.

"Whoa, baby girl. What the hell are you doing in Han's bed?" Rome's jaw was hanging wide open as he took in me curled up in the sheets.

"What?" I asked as I felt a blush creep up my neck and into my cheeks. Maybe we should have just announced that we were together the second we set foot in the building.

"He's with Gisele." He clarified.

"No. No. It's a long story, but he's not." My eyes widened in horror as I understood exactly what he thought. He'd do whatever it took to cover for Han, but it would change his opinion of me. I was a lot of things, but a side ho was not one of them.

He shut the door behind him before he walked in and flopped on the edge of my bed.

"What the hell happened?" He asked immediately.

"Before the first job we were together for three years—"

"In the sack together kinda together?" He interrupted.

"Yeah." I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. I had thought that was obvious, but he looked completely surprised. "Until about halfway through Rio when I left him." Rome's eyebrows shot up. "We saw each other a little over six months later and got back together."

"Last time I saw him, she was in his lap sucking his face off. Something had to have gone down. We don't need any more personal than we got on this job. Things are fucked up enough as it is." He pressed. I cringed at the absolutely unnecessary image.

"He cheated, so I left him. I was going to stay in the job anyway, but then Anton got shot. When I saw him again in Madrid, he was still with her. I never cheated with him, but everything was obvious and she left." It sounded so awkward when it was said out loud. I didn't particularly feel like elaborating, though.

"Man, what is it with all y'all and personal shit? We got Dom and Brian dealing with shit, and now you, Han, and Gisele are in some twisted love triangle and—" He was about to start off on another rant, but I sat up and slapped him in the back of the head. He swore loudly and started glaring.

"There is no love triangle, or personal shit going on between the three of us, and that's not going to change, so I swear to God if you go around starting shit with that loud ass mouth of yours, Roman, I—" I huffed as I was cut off by his shoulder-shaking belly laugh that was getting louder by the second.

"What happened to you being sweet? Damn." He choked out.

"I have never been _sweet_!" I haughtily tossed my tangled, messed up hair at him as I finally forced myself out of bed.

I ignored his obnoxious laughter as I picked up my clothes and make up bag off the top of my suitcase and then locked myself in the bathroom. Rome filled me in on his life as a millionaire through the door while I got ready and then we walked downstairs together.

Everything was quiet and steady; like the air before a storm that spawns a lethal tornado.

Hobbs was releasing a prisoner with a wire to check up on Shaw tonight. I doubted that we'd even find Shaw tonight, but I knew that if we did, things were going to get dangerous fast.

I'd never admit it, but I was worried. Things were different this time around. We'd overcome a lot of long odds before, but Shaw was on a whole new level. He also had one of ours under his command. You could see the hope oozing off of Brian and Dom, but what happened when they saw Letty working against them? What if she didn't want to come back?

I glanced over at Han who was sitting on a BMW hood slowly munching on a pack of snack cakes. Rome was grinning at him and cracking jokes about him being the only one getting any tail on this trip. I caught the words "feisty as hell" being said. Han just ignored him and ate his snack cake.

"You know we're glad to see you back." Brian materialized from nowhere beside my chair.

"Yeah?" I gave him a small smile.

"Yeah. Rome needs someone to back him off." He paused as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. "I'm sorry about your sister. We're going to get the bastards that did this."

_All except for one. _An unexpected wave of bitterness hit me.

I couldn't force out any words, so I just nodded.

Z

"What are we going to do if Shaw doesn't take the bait?" Gisele asked the question we'd all been thinking.

Hobbs didn't even bother to reply; he was obviously in commando mode.

His posture was so rigid he looked like a GI Joe action figure. He had been pacing at the side railing of the parking garage for about half an hour now with a menacing look on his face watching the horde of cops below. Every once in a while he would bark orders into a radio that kept him in contact with probably a hundred SWAT team members that were waiting to overtake the building next door.

All of these cops were making me a little itchy. Rome was fidgeting next to me so I knew he was feeling it too. I already knew Shaw wouldn't get caught by the cops—way too many things could go wrong for this to work—but I was looking forward to seeing how he ran against us.

"He will. Interpol picked up his guy in Moscow, then I had a little therapy session with him. He gave up Shaw's hide out." He stopped pacing and stood between Gisele and Dom.

"And why aren't we down there now?" Gisele asked.

Riley's lips twitched like she was trying to hold back a sneer.

"We weren't invited." Hobbs replied evenly.

"Hobbs." Tej called from his monitor. "They said they need a punching bag; he's wired and he's going to get a positive ID on Shaw before they move in."

There was a tense silence as we waited to hear something come in over the monitor speaker besides the sound of footsteps. Shaw's voice couldn't be heard soon enough for me; I was freezing despite my jacket and getting grumpy from waiting for so long. Finally a smooth, cold voice asking if the cops just let him go came through the speakers. Everyone sat up a little straighter.

"Don't worry; I didn't give him shit." The Interpol rat's voice answered.

"Oh, I'm not worried." The voice was as smooth and cold as a polished mirror and that made me nervous. His confidence was bone chilling. "Turn it over for me."

I was confused for a second until I heard an engine noise. Knowing we were about to have one hell of a car chase, I went ahead and mentally picked out the beamer I was going to be driving for the night.

The engine cut off after a few minutes. Shaw must have walked away from our guy because his words were harder to make out. I caught Tej's eye to and he shook his head to say the he wasn't getting it either. The only thing I caught was 'switch out a bad part'. A few minutes later, our guy was screaming Shaw's name.

"I just got confirmation on Shaw; they're going in." Tej announced calmly despite our guy's protesting screams.

Immediately after Tej finished talking, the humming or halogen spotlights being turned on sounded and tons of booted feet began moving on the pavement. Han, Riley, and Rome who had been away from the edge with me started to stand up and move toward the edge of the parking garage for a better view.

"Hey y'all, hold up."Tej's computer started beeping wildly. "An alarm on the police scanner just went off at Interpol."

"Shit! He brought us here so he could take down Interpol. This whole thing's a set up." Brian yelled.

"That's brilliant." I accidentally muttered out loud. I got a don't-even-think-about-it look from Han.

"Brian, you take the team." Dom ordered calmly after he glanced at me.

"What about you?" Brian asked.

"I'll wait for Shaw; Shaw leads to Letty." Brian nodded before moving quickly towards the cars. Everyone scattered with him.

I flung myself in the BMW behind Tej's. I was dimly aware of the passenger door opening and closing as I ducked my head under the steering wheel, reaching for the wires. I had my hands on them when I remembered that the keys were sitting innocently in the ignition.

"That's going to take some getting used to." I muttered as I turned the key, immediately throwing the car into gear and taking off after whoever swerved in front of me. I was pretty sure it was Brian.

Han chuckled as he adjusted to be more comfortable in the black leather seats. I accelerated so hard that my spine was pressed back with significant force. The car had a lot of power under the hood and it was really showing it.

We were turning out on the main road when a huge crashing and rumble sounded from behind us. I glanced in my rearview mirror to see dust billowing up. The building collapsing next door was shaking the whole block. I tried not to think of the men and women getting pinned under the falling structure. Hopefully most of them had managed to get out, but as violent as the explosions sounded, I doubted it.

"Take this right." Han directed with a point. Someone in front of me was already making the turn but I had been too freaked out to pay attention. I was now at the back of the pack of cars.

I yanked the wheel around the corner before careening around a taxi that was laying on the horn. I saw a glimpse of empty space about to open up between two cars going opposite directions up ahead of me on my far left. Almost on instinct, I went up a gear and swerved straight for it, not waiting for the space to open. Next to me, Han tensed as he saw where I was aiming, but relaxed when I hit the space between them with just enough room to spare.

Tokyo had two main positives: I found Han and I learned how to dodge traffic at high speeds. It wasn't an easy lesson and a lot of times I got things very wrong, but by the end of my sixth months there I was better than DK and Morimoto when it came to traffic driving. I was a little rusty, but it looked like I hadn't lost it; I was now in the lead.

"Interpol straight ahead. " Han said into the radio as we shot down a straight street before rounding a corner. "Drift around so we can get some cover." He directed me.

I huffed in annoyance. "Not my first rodeo." Grabbing the emergency break, I swung us to a stop facing the building.

Not two seconds later, bullets started ringing through the metal on Han's side. Knowing it was only a matter of time before a shot got him, I pushed my door open and started scrambling out so he could move. I kept getting tangled in my seat belt because I was trying to keep my head down and draw my gun at the same time so my exit ended up being an awkward half crawl, half fall out.

Han's body pressed in on me from the side as he crawled over the center console. I tried to scoot over to give him more room, but his body weight pressed in on me from above, holding me in place. I was confused until I realized he was shielding me.

Not wanting to waste any more time, I pushed my gun backwards into his hand and stood completely up, forcing him to as well. While he got some shots off at the enemy team that was running out of the Interpol office, I pulled his own gun out of his waistband and clip of bullets out of my pocket ready to reload for him if need be.

On the other side of the hail of gunfire, I saw the drivers piling into their cars. Rome, Tej, and Brian wasted no time taking off after them. I was on my way back in the car too when I saw Gisele take this opportunity to line up a shot at the fleeing team. My heart leapt into my throat as I realized that she had nowhere to go. A quick glance up revealed that the sniper on the roof was swinging the gun barrel towards her.

"Gisele, get down!" I yelled at her. She didn't move.

Han shot a quick glance at me before lunging. He grabbed her around the waist right as the shots started. I screamed as he threw them both behind a pole and guarded Gisele with his body. A single shot flew at me before the gunfire stopped all together.

"We're okay. Get out of here!" He yelled to me.

Without wasting another second, I leapt back into the car and sped in the direction I had seen the others go. There was chaos left in their wake, but it was not the absolute destruction I had been expecting to see. Based on the chatter coming over the radio, I didn't think that was going to last.

Rome yelled something about a hockey puck that didn't sound good. My heart started racing as I thought of all the electronic devices that could screw with a car's computer. I fumbled for the radio Han had dropped in my passenger seat.

"If that's in a place where you can scrape it off, do it. Those things can cause some serious damage if they get control of the internal computer." I told them.

My heart raced as I passed by cars that were stopped in the middle of the road with their driver's looking around in confusion. The few pedestrians I saw were staring down the road in shock. I at least knew I was going the right way, but I might not get there in time to back them up.

Turns out I was right; a mile later, I found Tej's car smashed into a pole.

My stomach flipped as I slammed the car into park and jumped out to check on him. The windshield was absolutely smashed as was much of the front end. The good news was it didn't look like it was a fatal accident. That let me breathe a sigh of relief.

"Tej!" I yelled for him as I moved over to the driver's side.

"Here, I'm here!" He yelled as pushed the door open.

I pulled it open the rest of the way and squatted down so I could give him a once over. The air bag was out and he was going to be massively sore and bruised from it, but that seemed to be the worst injury he had.

"Anything worse than bruises?" I asked as I pulled the seat belt off of him and helped him out. Down the street I heard glass shattering and people screaming. I could only hope that Rome got out of it as good as Tej.

"Damn man!" Tej swore as he got to his feet and took in the damage. "That was almost a hell of a lot worse."

"But you're alright?" I asked again as I pulled him towards my car. He looked a little stiff, but he was moving better than I thought he would be.

"Nothing I can't handle." He said as he settled into my passenger seat.

"I've got Tej; he's fine. On my way to Rome." I said into my radio as I slid into my side.

"Be careful. I think he went through a building." Brian answered.

"Damn." Tej and I shared a look. "Baby girl, we just bit off a hell of a lot more than we can chew."

"Since when has that ever stopped us?"

**AN: Thank you to my beta, Nana from Comp Yes. I really appreciate the help.**

**Thank all of you for the reviews.I love seeing your feedback and I feel like it helps me write faster. Now would be a good time to tell me what you think because me story traffic is not really going anywhere. I'd like to know some things to improve.  
**

**I would also really like to know how you see Gisele now after Fast 6. In the past I've portrayed her as super bitchy and jealous, but that last movie changed my mind a lot.  
**

** Unfortunately, the next chapter might take some time. I had it mostly written, but it set up something very dark and I'm not really sure I want to go in that direction now. I'm still setting up something not happy but there will be less blood in this chapter.  
**


	6. Unexpected Changes

"**Truth makes many appeals, not the least of which is its power to shock."**

**Jules Renard **

**Z**

London at night was cold. A gentle drizzle fell on the street soaking the hood over my head and making my jacket feel heavy. The light thrown off by the street lamps was haloed and fuzzy thanks to the falling rain. They didn't do much to clear the gloom.

That was exactly what I needed.

I could honestly say I'd never been more terrified in my entire life. It was a deep, bone chilling fear that was settled in my gut and making me nauseated and weak in the knees. None of that mattered though, I had to get this done, and I had to do it myself.

I rocked back and forth on my feet anxiously as I waited for the streetlight to change. The traffic was still flowing steadily despite the late hour and it was driving me crazy. I needed to get this done, and I needed to go before someone noticed I was gone. Finally the light changed and I jogged across stopped traffic.

I dropped to a power walk when I got the other side, but only so the few people on the sidewalk looking at me suspiciously didn't report me for being up to no good. A call to Han to come get me out of jail was not something that need to happen.

"What do you think you're doing?" A voice directly by my right shoulder startled me so much I spun around and almost slipped on the wet sidewalk.

Riley reached out to steady me before I fell. Her eyes were darting around my face as her lips narrowed into an even more serious set. I opened my mouth to explain, but I floundered. I was shaking, I was breathing hard, my heart was pounding, and I was pretty sure I was sweating like a whore in church: there was no way in hell I didn't look I'd just done something really stupid.

"What are you doing?" She asked again. Her tone had something a lot more accusatory.

"It's none of your business." I snapped haughtily. She shook her head.

"You're sneaking out of the headquarters of an international investigation in the middle of the night looking guilty. As law enforcement on that investigation, it's definitely my business." She cut directly to the point.

"I had to run to a pharmacy." I blurted as I shuffled away from her, eager to get back on my way.

I was having a pregnancy scare. It was a completely ridiculous one considering medically I was supposed to have a horrific time trying to get pregnant and I was on birth control, but still, I was scared.

Losing Hanna had put a lot of emotional stress on me; I was having trouble eating, I was losing weight, and it had completely screwed up my body. I hadn't thought that much about it until Han made an innocent comment about my boobs looking bigger. It was after that that I realized those were the same symptoms I had about a year ago right before I very unexpectedly lost a baby I didn't know I was pregnant with.

I was rushed to surgery and I spent the next week in the hospital battling an infection. My body had been damaged in a way that would make conceiving extremely difficult, if not impossible. I was almost one hundred percent sure that I wasn't pregnant, but I didn't want to be wrong. A tiny chance was still a chance and I wasn't going to stop hyperventilating until I saw that minus sign on a test.

"You had to run to a pharmacy by yourself at three in the morning in the pouring rain on foot?" Her tone made me realize exactly how stupid I sounded.

"I had to get girly things and I don't exactly need an escort for that." I finally muttered as my face flushed hot red. She sighed.

"Let's go so we can go home." She conceded as she started leading the way. A single noise left my mouth as I started to protest before a glare cut me off.

Not knowing what else to do, I followed her.

We were both soaked to skin by the time we went down another block and ducked into a twenty four hour pharmacy. She politely started looking at an aisle display of lip balm while I ducked to the back and found what I was looking for. I couldn't figure out the difference between brands, so I just randomly selected one and hurried to the check out.

The lazy cashier took forever to look up from the magazine she was reading when I got to her register. She judgingly glanced between me and Riley before looking at my left hand. I wiggled my fingers so my wedding ring showed. Thankfully she hurried up and rung me up.

The second she had it in a bag, I grabbed it and ran for the door.

Riley didn't say anything at all on the trip back, and for that I was grateful. It wasn't until we were in the elevator that she even acknowledged that I was next to her.

"I think you need to seriously think about whether or not you need to stay." She said slowly.

I glanced over at her right as the elevator doors opened on our main floor. Apparently she was working late on the Interpol footage. I caught a glance of Hobbs sound asleep sitting straight up in a chair in front of a stack of files. She must have been working late when she saw me leave on the security cameras.

"It won't be necessary." I assured her as she stepped out. Without waiting for a reply, I pushed the close door button and held it until the door slammed shut.

I let out a sigh as I slid down the wall and put my head in my hands. I knew it was going to be negative, but what if it wasn't? I was so scared I felt like I was going to throw up. The timing for this couldn't have been worse.

The elevator door finally came open again and I sneaked out down the dark hall lined with sleeping people. I crept around a corner to where I had noticed a bathroom on the hall. That way I could put this fear to rest without stressing over waking him up.

The minutes ticked by as I waited for the test to be ready. The longer I waited sitting in the floor, the dumber I felt over stressing out. I finally stopped worrying about what I was going to do with a baby and started wondering if I should tell Han.

A calm had overtaken me by the time the test was ready. By then I was ready to go crawl back in bed with Han and sleep like rock without the weight of this concern hanging over me. I grabbed the test off the floor beside me, flipping it over and casually glancing at what I knew it was going to say. And yet, I found the opposite.

I couldn't breathe. The shock ripped the air from my lungs and left me hyperventilating. My knees went completely out from under me and I dropped to the floor in front of the toilet. That ended up being a good thing, because before I knew it I was throwing up.

I wasn't thinking when I did it, but I dialed Han's phone. When I realized it was ringing, I started swearing under my breath. I couldn't hang up. It was way too late for that. It would have woken him up and he would have seen my empty side of the bed. I had to stay on the line.

"Ellie. Where the hell are you?" He sounded sleepy and really confused.

"I'm throwing up." I blurted.

"Do you need a Coke or something carbonated?" He asked quickly. I started hearing him move around.

"I'm in a different bathroom." I said quickly and little bit frantically. "I didn't want to wake you."

He sighed, obviously finding that ridiculous. "Where is it?"

"Down the hall to the left." I told him. I kept hearing movement and I guessed he was getting dressed.

"I'll be there in a minute." He hung up.

Well that went great. What was I going to do when he got here?

Maybe going to get the pregnancy test wasn't the scariest moment of my life; this was.

There was a light knock on the door before it swung in. Han took one look at me curled up beside the toilet before he knelt down and brushed my bangs out of my face. He adjusted so he was sitting and placed my head on his lap.

"You look awful. Is it just food poisoning?" He asked. I swallowed heavily and cringed at the metallic taste in my mouth.

He didn't look so good himself. His shirt was inside out and backwards and his pants were unzipped from where he'd thrown them on. His hair was messy and he looked like he was having a lot of trouble keeping his eyes open. I felt a pang of guilt for waking him up and making him worry.

"I've been nauseous a lot." I whispered.

"From stress?" I chewed on my lip.

"I thought so." The hand he was running over my hair stopped dead. His eyes flew open in surprise as he immediately caught my meaning.

"We can go right now and—" I cut him off by pulling the test out from under my back where I had landed on it when I laid down to make the nausea stop.

"I'm freaking out." I chuckled humorlessly. Why I did I wasn't really sure. Maybe it was to keep from crying.

"What does it say?" He asked even though he was staring at the obvious results.

"We're pregnant." I murmured. I felt his stomach hollow out as he inhaled in surprised.

We stayed together in awkward silence for several minutes. I knew we were both shocked and panicking, but we had to figure out something.

"Han, please say something." I begged. I felt a little bit of wetness on my cheeks.

"I'm going to be a father." He finally muttered as his hand slid on my stomach.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"What we always do." Was his simple reply.

"Escape into the sunset in a blaze of glory after leaving the town in flames and shattering the hold of the oppressive?" I replied as I really started crying.

"I was going for 'survive' or 'adapt'." He deadpanned.

"God, you're boring." I joked through the tears.

"Well, I think we've settled on who's in charge of bedtime stories." I sat up and nuzzled my face into his neck.

"You're going to be an amazing father." He kissed my head and wrapped an arm around me.

With Han next to me, the peace came back. I knew he was panicking beneath the still surface. Heck, I could feel his pulse racing right now; I was pretty sure it matched mine. I wasn't exactly looking forward to being a mother. I had a horrible relationship with my own and I didn't really know how to handle a kid. I knew I was going to make so many mistakes. But despite the panic, we'd been through worse things in our time together, and this could end up being one of the happiest moments in our life, even if it wasn't planned.

Whatever we'd been faced with, we'd made it work. This time wasn't going to be any different.

**AN: Hey guys, I know this chapter probably threw y'all through a little bit of a loop, but it's been planned for a year. **

**Originally this was supposed to happen towards the end, but it got moved here for some very important reasons. Also the first draft of this chapter kind of almost killed off Ellie because I was ready to be done with this trilogy. It was a little bit too much so it got written out.**

**Please review and tell me what you think about this chapter. My story traffic and number of reviews has nosedived and I'm a little curious as to why.**


	7. Chapter 7

He didn't sleep at all; that much was obvious. I could tell by the way he was hunched over Roman's car sluggishly pulling out parts we could use later. His eyes were ringed with dark circles and his eyelids were only half open.

My fingers drummed nervously on my knee as I watched Brian pacing around the room talking to Tej. It was hard not to be twitchy. We had so much to think about and to do before the kid got here. A sinful, very wrong little part of me was wondering if Han would even stick around that long; he'd barely said a word since I'd told him and he looked like he was ready to faint at any moment. Maybe he wouldn't be ready for this and decide to split.

My stomach rolled as my body started reacting to the added stress.

I needed to calm down. It wasn't good for me or the baby. I really just needed to lay back and relax and support the team any way I could until this was over. However, that was going to be really hard after Russia; that was the first job they really let me do something besides driving and mechanic work.

For a moment I wondered if I could still drive for the team, but the more I thought about it, the more I doubted it. Han had always been super protective of me and the fact that I was carrying his kid wasn't going to help. Dom also wouldn't put me in harm's way if he knew I was pregnant. I'd probably have to tell him soon before Riley did.

"You look awful." Gisele materialized next to me holding two steaming cups of coffee.

I was so startled I almost fell of the hood I was perched on. She'd always moved like a silent predator but, damn, she really took me by surprise.

"I've had better nights." I admitted.

Without a word, she offered me one of the cups. Confused by her motives, I stared at it for longer than was probably polite. Eventually, I took it with a small 'thanks'. She didn't spare me a parting glance as she walked over to a table to drink her coffee alone.

I inhaled deeply over the warm, amazing smelling liquid. I almost considered taking a sip, but last time I drank a cup of coffee it was apparently drugged because I woke up in Japan. I wasn't quite ready to try it again.

My phone buzzed lightly in my back pocket. I balanced the cup of coffee on my knee as I yanked it out. A quick glance at Han who was trying to pretend he wasn't holding his phone told me he was actually texting me when we were in the same room; something he had always claimed was stupid and something he would never do.

**I'm pretty sure you can't have caffeine. **

I snorted at his overbearing message.

**I can't do it. Coffee reminds me of funerals and roofies.**

I saw his shoulders rise and fall in a heavy sigh.

**Do you think the schools are better outside of Madrid?**

I chewed my lip as I stared at my phone. He really was up all night if he was already at that point in his thinking. I had barely even had time to consider making my doctor's appointment.

**Are you okay? **I finally asked.

**We aren't ready for this. **He finally replied after a long pause.

**I don't think anyone ever is. You better pray this kid isn't a girl. I don't think you could handle her having boys falling all over her. **I finally sent back to stop the conversation before it got any more crazy.

Just when I thought he couldn't look more freaked out, the blood vanished from his face. Maybe that was a step too far.

He dropped the wrench he was using, walked over to the broken snack machine, and picked out a candy bar. He yanked the wrapper off before viciously biting off a chunk.

I sighed. It was never good when he went for the chocolate. Realizing I had to fix this before Tej and Rome got here, I slid off the car and went over to him.

"Everything's going to be okay. It's just the shock of all of this." I whispered so only he could hear the second I got close enough. He kept his eyes trained on his feet.

"I'm almost thinking that it would be best if you went home." He cut straight to the core of the issue, keeping his voice low.

"Have you lost your damn mind?" I asked loudly enough for Gisele and Brian to turn their heads our way.

"Less stress on you and you out of harm's way: I don't think that's crazy." He said pointedly. I rolled my eyes.

"Since we have decided to go toe to toe with Shaw, I will always be in harm's way. I actually think I'm less safe in Spain. When I'm there, I've become an easy, unprotected target and led him to my businesses and my business partner, plus my family if they've ever pissed him off. And let's be honest, if Harper was in London at the same time he was, she's probably pissed him off." I exclaimed, no longer caring about being quiet. My blood was beginning to boil; how dare he try to send to me home.

"If he's as vindictive as they say, he'll probably just mail us her head in a box. Putting her in another country won't stop anything." Gisele spoke when Han didn't say anything. I wasn't exactly happy for that mental image, but I was glad she was backing me up. I gave him a look that said 'listen to your ex-girlfriend'.

"You know someone that might have background information on him?" Brian cut in before the fight got out of hand.

"Possibly. She wasn't as involved in things like this when she was here, but she still might know something." I answered, still looking at Han. I could tell by the look in his eyes he still wasn't happy with me being here and not far away from Shaw.

"You could be in Dublin in a few hours and meet her in person." Han suggested after he finished his candy bar.

"And that's what I'll do if things get bad, but for now I'm staying." I dropped my voice a little lower to make it harder for Gisele and Brian to hear. Dom had apparently had enough of our arguments in Rio because he was making himself busy in the far corner of the room totally ignoring it. "I think it would make it harder on me knowing what you're up against while I'm sitting at home. Okay?"

I leaned up and kissed his cheek. His face softened minutely as he took that into consideration. He finally sighed at nodded his agreement. I smiled at him as I handed off the cup of black coffee. He needed it so much more than I did.

"Let me go through his early history and then I'll start making that phone call, Brian." I changed the subject as I redirected my attention away from Han.

A few minutes later, Rome and Tej finally showed up. Rome wasted no time going to the broken snack machine and picking out his breakfast. The screens with the information on Shaw's team members caught his eye and he walked over to it.

"This is crazy man." He declared

"What are you talking about now?" Tej asked crossly.

"I'm just looking at these images and it's like we're hunting our evil twins. Look at this black dude right here; he's handsome." I couldn't help it. I snorted at the ridiculousness. "Clearly that's me. We got a white Hobbs. This is Han. Check this; it's an African in a beanie. Just like you."

Tej looked like he was one hundred percent done with Rome this morning. Han surprisingly hadn't cared about Rome's silliness; he had just smiled and shrugged at his antics.

"Hey Brian!" Rome yelled across the room. Everyone reluctantly looked up. "When did you do this photo shoot?" He pointed at the blonde woman. Brian smiled and flipped him off. "Just playing man. You know I love you. You know you're the prettiest blonde around here."

The whir of the big engine in Hobbs's truck interrupted what was sure to be a smart ass reply from Brian. Hobbs pulled up in his usual parking place and got out with Riley.

"Alright, lock it up!" He yelled without bothering with small talk "We got two things. First, Shaw picked the worst city in the world to commit a crime. They've got cameras on every street corner. Almost as bad as Tokyo." He shot me a look. Oops. Guess he finally figured out what I needed the pardon for.

As he walked over to Tej, he started getting technical about tracking the video feed. I blocked it out as he handed Tej a little black box.

"And secondly we just got confirmation on what Shaw's team grabbed from Interpol. They ripped off a database that contains every location of the final piece that they need."

"So where are they headed?" Brian asked.

"There are over 2000 of them around Europe," Riley spoke up.

"But the list is only good for ninety-six hours, which means wherever Shaw's crew is going to hit is going to happen within the next four days. They got a window and so do we. We've got to move.

"Hobbs is right. So let's break this down. What do we know?" Dom questioned.

"We know they have to be running custom engines." Tej put in. "You heard that flip car going through those gears.

"Sequential transmission." Han filled in.

"That didn't sound like a normal engine." Gisele stated.

"Um, turbo diesel. Not a lot of mechanics build those so that narrows things down." I looked up from my file.

"You see that thing take all those hits and still stay flat in the corners?" Rome asked

"Yeah, hydraulics or a magnetic suspension." Brian answered

"Who not only has access to the components, but can fabricate something like that?" Han brought up.

"I know of two. The list is a little bit longer than that, but there can't be more than six or seven mechanics in the city that could do that." I laid down my file and pulled out my phone. I shot a quick text to Harper.

"Han, Gisele, Rome: you're up." Dom informed them. "We find the guy that did that car, we find Shaw."

"Let's go." Gisele smirked as she flounced away from the table.

"I'll come too." Riley supplied.

I must have looked a little confused as I watched them go because Dom turned to me.

"Got something else planned for you. You ready?" He asked.

"Absolutely." I responded confidently.

"Good. Make that call." He told me. I grabbed my phone and was about to head off to call my godmother when he caught my eye and shook his head in a way that told me to wait.

"Tej, we're going to need some cars without computer chips that can be overridden. Make sure they're fast." Dom turned to Tej.

"I got it this."

"Already on it, fellas. I contacted R 'n' D and DSS." Hobbs cut in.

"Hobbs, I said I got this." Tej repeated.

"This should be interesting." Hobbs muttered

"Ellie, you're going with them. I figure having a pretty girl there might make this go a little easier." Dom turned to me. I smirked a little bit. "After that, start tune ups, and see if you can figure out anything else about the flip car."

My phone buzzed in my hand and I glanced down to see a list of mechanics names, addresses, or shop names. It was a pretty scattered list, but it would serve its purpose. I immediately forwarded it to Han.

He muttered a thanks before he and the others left.

My phone buzzed again, this time promising information on Shaw a little bit later if she could find any. Now that I didn't really need to call her anymore, I stood up and closed my file.

"I've got to change. They're always a hell of a lot nicer if you show up in a dress and heels." I told Tej and Hobbs.

"Take your time." Tej told me. I nodded and started making my way towards the elevator. I was almost there in Brian fell into step alongside me. God, I knew this was coming. Dom must have sent him.

"What just happened with you and Han?" He asked bluntly.

"After we got here, I found out we were pregnant." I chewed my lip nervously. "It was extremely unexpected and he's not really sure how to handle it. I've already had one miscarriage and I got really sick afterwards, so he's worried."

"Congratulations." Brian smiled at me. "Everything will get better when the shock wears off. He does have a point though; Shaw's a hell of a lot more dangerous than anyone we've ever I had to deal with."

"Still doesn't give him the right to try to hide me somewhere." Bitterness seeped into my voice. Brian shrugged noncommittally. I realized that might have been a little harsh considering he had left Mia and Jack at home.

"Maybe not, but you've still got to stay safe." He lectured.

"I'll be careful." I assured him as the elevator opened. I stepped in and turned to give him a winning smile. "I promise nothing's going to happen."

Z

The auction Tej had selected was outdoors and filled with a lot of extremely rich, extremely snobby people from all over. There had been one obnoxious guy who thought he could do anything he wanted because he had mommy and daddy's bank account and refused to stop hitting on me. I finally had to take my engagement ring off its long chain and put it back on my finger. When that didn't work, I scuttled back over to Hobbs who was looking at a Dodge Daytona and grabbed his hand.

Hobbs was severely confused and unhappy but it backed off the other guy.

Crap like that never failed to happen at these car auctions. Someone always assumed I was spending my husband's or my daddy's money on 'something pretty' that I found here. It was condescending and degrading and I hated it. I still came, though, but usually just long enough to sell a car I restored for charity. If I thought I could get a better price somewhere else, I'd never come back.

"Man you really got to loosen up." Tej told Hobbs as we made our way through the crowds. "You can't just throw a bunch of factory line beamers at people and expect—"

"Hey," Hobbs interrupted. "Those are a hell of a car. We're talking about twin turbo V8s, spitting out five hundred and fifty ponies, son."

"He reads the brochure." Tej deadpanned sarcastically. "I'm proud, but with cars you have to customize. It's all between you and the car you build. It's a bond. It's a commitment.

"Sounds like a marriage." Hobbs didn't sound convinced.

"Yeah, but with cars when you trade up, they don't take half your shit." I laughed a little too loudly at that. He gave me an I-know-what-I'm-talking-about look at took a sip of his champagne.

"Jesus! For prices like these, these cars better be made out of gold." Hobbs muttered. I glanced around Tej to see him looking at the brochure.

"Some of these cars are really rare and in great condition to be as old as they are. All of the restoration work I've seen is absolutely amazing." I told him.

"Baby girl gets it." Tej muttered. Hobbs cut his eyes from me to Tej but he didn't comment on it. Instead, he changed the subject entirely.

"You ain't thinking about stealing these cars are you, Parker?" A dangerous tone sunk into Hobbs's voice.

"If he isn't, I certainly am. Every damn one of them." I answered before Tej could without looking at Hobbs. I could feel his stare on my back as I moved away to look at car.

"Kitchen help entrance is towards the back." I heard a posh man inform Tej and Hobbs a few minutes later. He was looking at them like they were the mud on his polished black shoes.

I wasn't standing that closely to Tej so he obviously didn't think I was with him. I'm sure it didn't help that I had on five inch heels, a cocktail dress, and a blazer. He seemed so pretentious, that even me standing with him probably wouldn't have backed him off.

"Come again?" Hobbs asked after a long pause.

"I don't mean any offense gentlemen, but you couldn't possible afford any of the cars in this auction. No substantial amount of gaudy jewelry. No entourage. No 'honeys'. Clearly you're not a 'baller'." He got done raking his eyes over Tej and turned to Hobbs.

"And you. Shoes, shirt, trousers…._functional. _Your posture; too rigid. No smile. I guess military. Make maybe fifty thousand a year; and that's US, which is not enough to be playing here. So if you're not kitchen help, then you must be in the wrong place. But please, do finish your champagne before you go." With that statement, I'd had enough. I drew myself up with as much snark as I could muster.

"Excuse me." I called, letting my Spanish accent filter through as I prissed the three steps over to their side. He had been walking away, but he turned back when he heard me. "Is he bothering you?" I gestured with my left hand holding the champagne flute at the snotty little British man. His eyes bulged when he saw my engagement ring.

"I think I can handle it." Hobbs shot back. I looked at him before turning cheekily at the suited man and narrowing my eyes at him.

"Do you have a problem?" I bit out with emphasis on every word. He opened his mouth and shut it a few times as he searched for something to say.

"Are these gentlemen with you?" He finally choked out.

"It doesn't matter if they are or aren't; they are none of your business." I told him firmly.

"I just—" He began, trying to defend himself.

"Assumed because they are modest and humble that they don't belong here?" I cut him off. "That's a very rich man." I gestured at Tej. "And he stays that way because of humility. Maybe you should try it."

"Ma'am, I—" He tried again.

"I think you've said enough." I dismissed him. Flustered, he went around us and hurried off to do some last minute work.

"Oh, he needs to be taught a lesson." Tej muttered.

"Oh he definitely does. I hate people like that." I agreed.

"You ain't stealing these cars." Hobbs deadpanned.

"As much fun as that would be, I don't think that's the way to do it." I looked at Tej. He nodded in agreement.

"I got this."

Z

"God, look at all of these! All they need is just a few tweaks." I gushed as I leaned over the engines of Tej's new purchases. He and Hobbs were still smirking over sending the pompous British man away in nothing but his underwear and socks.

"Tweaks? For what he paid for them, they should be perfect." Hobbs barked from his spot at the table. It was kind of his default voice tone.

"Tweaks. They're fast, but some of them are a little factory tuned. They just need a little modification." I told him as I prodded some of the hoses to make sure they were attached well.

"Told ya it was a bond. Listen to the sexy little lady." Tej interjected. I blushed a little bit. "Or am I still allowed to call you that?" His grin widened.

"What?" I asked as my cheeks tinted a darker pink and my neck got splotchy.

"You got you a man at home." He clarified. I shook my head at him and tried to go back to my car, but that didn't work. "Come on, what is he? Doctor, lawyer, business man? That's a big rock, so it's gotta be a whole lotta love."

I unconsciously touched the ring that was now back around my neck and hidden by my dress. Tej saw and wiggled his eyebrows at me, fully knowing it would embarrass me further.

"So who does he feel about this?" Hobbs asked, turning to me seriously. "Does he even know?"

"Most importantly, how does Han feel about this?" Tej asked pointedly.

"Hopefully the same way I do." I replied cryptically as I moved on to the next engine.

"Whoa, no. Y'all are not back together?" He asked in shock.

"Got together seven months after we broke up." I decided I might as well tell them the truth. They'd never stop if I didn't.

"So did he slap that ass or did he grab it and hold on to it?" He laughed at his own old joke.

"Little bit of both." I replied cheekily. His laughter stopped in shock before he started laughing again even louder than he was before.

"Damn, when he brought you home, we thought you were pure innocence." He yelled.

It was my turn to chuckle.

"You're the one on the team with the least priors to clear. Mostly traffic violations." Hobbs finally said.

I perched on the edge of the hood and wiped my hands on the rag. As I thought back on my life, the memories of all the Tokyo runs came back like it was yesterday.

"I spent a few months in juvie for stealing cars. After my dad passed away, I was dragged to Japan and debt bonded to work for a Yakuza boss." I started slowly.

"Sex trafficked?" Hobbs asked bluntly.

"Human trafficked." I corrected quickly. "I ran drugs for about five months, I think. Han tried to get me out and things went horribly wrong, and we both almost died. I actually had to kill someone to get away."

"I ain't heard this story." Tej told me.

"Well, that's all there is to tell. After that, I went to Rio with him and then I left and pulled a job in Moscow. Two actually." I corrected myself.

Hobbs had apparently forgotten about that because he started to grit his teeth.

"Clean sheets, remember?" I asked pointedly as I stared him down. "And you shouldn't complain too much; I'm pretty sure the Russian mafia is still trying to put everything back together."

"So Han is actually getting married?" Tej diverted back to the original topic. Probably to stop the Hulk from smashing.

"Married a little over a week ago." He grinned evilly. I could just see the jokes he was about to make at Han swirling around in his brain. "Don't make a big deal out of this; that's why we didn't announce it to begin with." I warned.

"There's the shy little girl I remember from Rio." He teased. "Always avoiding the spotlight."

"You're going to think 'shy little girl' when I throw a wrench at your head." I quipped as I got off the hood and picked up my purse from the table. "I don't have a lot to do on the cars, but I am going to need a few parts so I can switch things out. I should be back two hours tops, and then I'll get started."

"No you're not." Hobbs cut me off bluntly. I raised an eyebrow. "You're going to send us out with a list. I'm not letting you out by yourself."

I opened my mouth to protest, but he gave me a mean glare that made me shut it. I was a little surprised at myself for stopping for Hobbs. But then again, he was about three times my size. But then again, I was me and I could handle myself.

"I'm gonna be just fine. See you in two hours." I snapped as I pulled my purse further up on my shoulder.

Hobbs responded by sweeping a file off the top of the stack with vicious force and opening it to reveal a gory crime scene photo of a person that had been flat out executed on their knees with a shot to the head. The blood pool spreading out around them was sickeningly red. My breath caught in my throat as I stared at the carnage.

"That was a witness they popped in an ally. He had a long list of violent priors and a boxing title." In other words, he was someone that should have lasted in a fight.

"Man, don't be showing her that!" Tej cut in as he shoved at Hobbs' hand.

"Make the list." He ordered as he shoved a legal pad at me.

Half-aggravated at letting myself be bullied into it, and half-freaked out by the photo he'd waved under my nose, I wrote out a detailed list of what I needed. When I was through, he snatched it up and stalked over to the beamer. Tej pulled me an awkward congratulations hug where he apologized for Hobbs before he started walking after him.

"I'm going to grab lunch in a little while. Surely you'll be okay with that." I snapped at Hobbs. He gave me a head nod in agreement.

"Just stay close by." He ordered.

"You stay close by." I heard myself mumble childishly as I wandered back over to the cars.

This whole getting treated like a delicate little flower thing was already driving me insane. As much as I hated using a gun, I could definitely take care of myself with one. I didn't need to be coddled and set aside for safekeeping. When those boys got back, I was going to knock some heads together and prove it.

**AN: Thank y'all for the great response to her pregnancy. I was seriously worried about that. Please keep it up. I really love hearing your feedback. Also, can y'all let me know what you think Han would be like as a father? I have my ideas, but I'm curious what you think. **

**And shoutout to my beta Nana from CompYES. I really appreciate the help. **


	8. Chapter 8

"What happened to you?" Brian's voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

I glanced up to see the team returning looking worse for wear. I had been so focused on the engine Dom was testing, that I hadn't even heard them come in. I quickly looked Han up at down to see if he had any injuries. He looked like he was stiff and sore, but aside from that he seemed okay.

"We met Dom's girlfriend." Exhaustion sank into Riley's voice. "She's -"I couldn't make out her word, but it didn't sound flattering.

Her hair was down for the first time since we'd been here. She looked lovely with it down, but the look the look of sheer tiredness on her face detracted from it a little. I started wondering if her hair had been torn down in a fight.

"You alright?" That was probably the most human I've ever heard Hobbs sound.

"Yeah." She smiled at him.

"Tej, what have you got on the footage?" And human moment over.

"Went through all of it and believe it or not, wherever Shaw's team is, cameras are down." He answered from his desk.

"That's a hell of a coincidence." Hobbs's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Alright. We're going to pay CCTV a visit. Let's roll!"

Without another word, Hobbs and Riley were off.

With Hobbs no longer standing between me and Han, I started moving towards him. Unfortunately Tej got there first to check out whatever Han was pulling out of a black bag.

"What is that?" He pointed at something cylindrical and silver.

"This is a new toy for you." Han answered with a flourish.

"What happened?" Dom asked as soon as I got to Han. I gave him a little glare. I was just about to ask that.

"Shaw's goons showed up and started shooting up the place." Han replied smoothly.

I looked him over one more time to make sure he wasn't hurt.

"But we got something big." Gisele put in holding up what looked like a cellphone.

"What?" Dom asked.

"Braga." Everyone's heads snapped up.

"What is that?" I whispered to Han.

"Who." He corrected gently.

"He's working with Shaw." She dropped the blackberry onto a pile of papers in front of Brian.

"What are you talking about?" Brian's mouth was tight and concern was written all over his face.

"It's true. The phone's filled with coded payment transactions that go straight to Braga's cartel." Han answered.

Suddenly everything started making sense and Han's stories of Brian and Dom came back to me. Shaw's empire reached a lot further than I had thought and I knew we were in a world of trouble. I was very glad I was here and not Spain; one of Shaw's contacts would have picked me up by now.

"Who the hell is Braga?" Rome broke in when he realized Han wasn't going to explain it to me.

"He ran one of the biggest cartels in Mexico." Dom answered tonelessly.

"And he's my old boss." Gisele added. "We used codes just like that to move money all across the country."

"Braga was working with Letty. Now Letty is working with Shaw, and that would explain how the two of them met." Brian was looking more agitated than I had ever seen him.

"Okay, so y'all know all of this information about him; where do we find him?" Tej cut to the point.

"He's sitting in a prison in Los Angeles." Brian's voice rose as he began to pace the room, running his hand through his hair in a nervous gesture.

"How do you know that?" Tej asked.

Brian stopped pacing and stood breathing heavily with his hand on top of his head for a long time.

"Brian put him there." Dom finally answered for him.

"Alright, so this is the break we were looking for." Brian finally got his composure back and turned to the team. "If the two of them were working together, Braga will know what Shaw's up to. I'm going to pay him a visit."

"Are you serious right now?" Rome asked sternly. "Think about this Brian. You're wanted. The second you step off that plane it's a wrap. You're not coming back."

"Rome's right. And besides, it's been two years since you locked him up; that's a lot of time for him to think about how to kill you. Even if you make it to Los Angeles without being discovered as Brian O'Connor, you're not coming back alive out of the prison." I put in. He sighed heavily.

"Coming back?" Tej echoed both mine and Rome's phrase. "How are you going to get in the county?"

"Let me worry about that." Brian muttered as he sat heavily in one of the uncomfortable metal chairs in front of Dom. "This is on me. I'm the one that served her up to Braga. I'm the one that gets to make it right. I've got to make it right."

"Be careful." Dom gave in. With his approval, Brian stood and left.

"He probably won't make it back in time." I muttered. Dom turned to look at me.

We both knew what they meant; they would be short a driver and I would have to take his place. Dom's lips pressed into a thin light line as he weighed the options. He obviously knew I was expecting and I could tell sending me into harm's way didn't sit well with him.

"No." Han stated under his breath. I was supposed to be the only one to hear it, but Tej turned around too.

"Let's go upstairs." I ordered as I moved toward the elevator. The sharp click of my stilettos sounded way too loud on the concrete. Silently, Han followed behind leaving Tej staring at our backs.

His coddling made me furious. I was perfectly freaking fine driving in Brian's place. I knew I was good enough and he should too considering the number of times I'd proved myself in Japan, Colombia, Brazil, and Russia. He was being stupid; the worst injury I'd ever had gotten during a job was a cut that needed stitches and a concussion.

We stayed quiet until the elevator doors opened on our floor. Then I whirled around to face him with a lot more viciousness than I had meant to have.

"You can't shove me in a cage, Han! I'm just as fucking good as Brian. I've made it through a whole lotta jobs without a scratch. If you think I couldn't handle a convoy jacking you should have left me back in Colombia and never introduced me to the team in the first place." I snapped the second we stepped out of the elevator.

"You can't run around doing everything you usually would either." He replied quickly. I snorted at him.

"And you think you can? I'm not raising this baby without a father, Han!" I knew I shouldn't be yelling at him, but I couldn't help it. I was just so frustrated.

"I'm not worried about dying and I'm not worried about you dying, either." He deadpanned, trying to placate me a little. "I'm just saying that we need to be careful with your body because of the baby. If you get hurt even a little bit, that kid's not going to make it; and if you lose that kid there is no guarantee that we will ever get pregnant again."

I chewed my lip bottom lip. I was becoming really uncomfortable with this conversation really quickly.

"I meant it when I said you belonged here. You have the skill, but things are really different this time." He was telling me everything I wanted to hear and he really was right about me having to be careful, but it still irritated me.

"I just hate being treated like I'm made of glass." I snarled in frustration.

"You are not even close to being made of glass, but the baby is." He said gently. "You're so stubborn and independent it's going to be hard, but you've got to stay safe and healthy for it."

My shoulders sank in defeat. He was absolutely right. What if something happened to the baby because I went toe to toe with a flip car? I was being incredible selfish. I still wanted to be behind the wheel of that car more than anything, and there was still the possibility that I would be, but I hadn't even thought about the consequences for the baby.

Ashamed of myself, I started to cry.

I couldn't look at Han anymore, so I started walking past him towards our room. I had almost made it past him when he gently wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close to his chest. I got a big whiff of his cologne and dropped my head against him, taking in the familiar smell. He reached a hand up and gently petted the top of my head.

"So you do want this baby?" I asked him as I sobbed into his chest. A deep rumble of a humorless chuckle echoed in his chest.

"I'm scared as hell, but I do." I felt the light brush of his cheek against my hair and I nuzzled further up against him. Unconsciously, I let my arms snake around his waist and tightened my hold.

The second I put pressure on his back, he stiffened considerably. Surprised at his sudden change of posture, I loosened my grip. He exhaled slowly like he was in pain. I was about to ask him what had happened when I heard a door open and a quiet "Oh."

We both turned to see Brian standing in front of the open door to his room looking very uncomfortable.

"Good luck, Brian." Han finally broke the silence.

"Thanks, man." Brian replied as he shuffled past us.

"Good luck." I echoed Han after I had wiped some stray mascara out from under my eyes.

"Thanks. Hang in there; it'll get better." He rested a gentle hand on my back before getting into waiting elevator.

"I'm a hormonal mess." I muttered as I put my head back on Han's chest. He wisely chose not to respond. Unintentionally, I knocked his back with my elbow and he squirmed again. "What happened to your back?" I asked as I adjusted so I wasn't hurting him.

"Today Shaw's crew opened fired into an office where Gisele and Riley were. They killed their own man." He admitted softly. I tried to suck in a few breaths and stop my crying as I looked up to face him.

"Was Letty with them?" I asked. He nodded. His face hardened as he thought back to it. "Did she see you?"

"I don't think so. I'm not sure she would have stopped shooting if she did." He finally answered. "We chased the crew to Waterloo station. She and Riley fought."

"Which one did you fight?" I asked quietly as I brushed my fingertips along his jawline and cheekbones, looking for any signs of swelling. I wasn't exactly surprised when I found a few.

"My evil twin. I landed some good hits on him, but he managed to lose us in a crowd. We basically had him before that." He shrugged.

"You need to put some ice on your back, and probably your face, too." I told him as I caressed his jawline a little more.

"He barely touched me. It won't even bruise." He explained.

"You sure?" I asked as I detangled myself from his arms.

"Yeah. Go change and take your make up off. I'll meet you downstairs." He nudged me towards our room.

Something told me he wasn't so sure at all.

"Sure you don't want to stay up here with me?" I asked flirtily as I leaned forward slightly so he could see my low neckline. His eyes darted down for a split second before returning back to my face. This dress had always been one of his favorites.

"Yeah, I'll meet you downstairs." He spun on his heel and started to leave.

_Yep. He and Rome got their asses kicked. He's probably covered in bruises._ I thought as I watched him go. I decided I was just going to pretend I didn't know.

Z

The silence in room was only occasionally punctuated by the tap of my pencil on the metal table and the occasional clack of metal from the grappling hook Gisele was working on. Everyone else had gone up for the night, except for Dom who was at the races. Han was already passed out asleep. When I had left, his shirt had moved enough that I could see the forming bruise over his kidney. If he was so proud he couldn't say the fight had gone badly, I wouldn't mention it.

The quiet was strange. I'd really gotten use to the sound of movement from the other team members echoing off the concrete walls. The sound of Rome constantly talking was also noticeably absent. It was actually kind of refreshing.

I got designated as the mechanic of the group, and, seeing a perfect way to keep me out of harm's way, Dom had me looking at everything we knew about the flip car. I was pretty sure I was supposed to be looking for a weakness, but there just flat out wasn't one. Unless we could use Gisele's new grappling hook to catch a bar on the back end of it, anchor it to something, and by some miracle got it to stop, we were screwed.

"Gisele?" I asked hesitantly. Since I had been staring at the same paper without any new ideas for about half an hour, I might as well try something different.

"Yes?" Her voice was clipped and still managed to be polite, but I immediately got the vibe I was bothering her by breaking the silence.

"Short of a grenade launcher, is there anything that can pierce this type of metal shell?" I held up the fact sheet I had made with a crude drawing of the wedge shaped car on it.

She looked up from where she was installing a NOS tank on the back of the hook and looked at it thoughtfully.

"Even if we found something to penetrate the outer shell, I think the bullet will have slowed down enough that it wouldn't harm the engine or the driver." She answered after a long moment of consideration.

"We couldn't use their own computer destroying weapons against them with something to shut down the engine because of the same reason, and attempting to blow it up would cause way too much collateral damage and even then it's probably fireproof." I sighed in exasperation at the lack of a usable plan.

"What does that leave us with?" Her long fingers started moving expertly over the weapon, making sure the NOS tank was hooked in properly.

"Ramming them into a solid structure or catching the back bars with the hook and anchoring to them to something. Neither of those is practical." I stretched back in my chair, rubbing my tired eyes with the heels of my hands.

"Depending on where we end up fighting them, one of those might actually be an option." She admitted thoughtfully after a long pause.

"I'm getting a Coke. Do you want to split it with me or do you want coffee?" I asked as I started checking my pockets for change.

According to a quick Google search on pregnancy, I was technically not supposed to have a lot of caffeine. I'd be careful and only have a little until I got home and asked my doctor. Han would probably have a fit if he knew I was drinking it at all.

"Black coffee." She answered after a long pause. With a nod, I got up and started on the coffee. While it brewed, I got my drink out the machine.

I sighed tiredly as I leaned back on the wall and took a deep swig out of my bottle.

My conversation with Han had been bothering me. After seeing his bruises up and Rome's swollen cheekbone, I was starting to lose some of my confidence about this job. I had a deep gnawing feeling in my gut that wasn't going away. I wanted to say it was just hormones running wild—which it probably was—but it felt like more than that.

The smell of Gisele's coffee should have been comforting, but something about it made me cringe. Quickly, I picked up her cup and set it down in front of her, careful not to inhale. The last thing I needed was for morning sickness to start rearing its ugly head.

Needing to some sort of distraction I walked over to the giant hole Rome put in the wall with the grappling hook and ran my hand over the broken concrete. I smirked as I remembered Han's irritated expression when it hit a foot from his head.

"The hooks are our best bet against the flip car. They'd even help us if we have to attack their convoy." Gisele broke the silence after a long pause.

"How do you think that's really going to go?" I asked slowly.

I would be surprised if Gisele even deigned to answer that question. I knew that above all else she prized confidence and strength and everything about that question screamed weak and frightened. I didn't care though; I needed to hear that this was going to go smoothly.

As much as I disliked Gisele, I did respect her when it came to things like this, and since she was making nice, I could do the same thing. I'd never trust her but I couldn't exactly hold the fact that Han slept with her over her head forever; especially since I'd totally forgiven Han for it and I'd done the same thing to several of his models. Besides, without that incident I never would have grown into the person I had; I should be thanking her for that.

"There are always risks, but our team has the precision to make it happen. We are the best in the world." She sounded so sure I wanted to believe her but the niggling of doubt wouldn't go away.

"I hope you're right." I muttered.

Before she could reply, the sound of hurried footsteps started echoing off the concrete walls. Tej rounded the corner on his phone and took his seat at his desk. He was wearing pajama pants and white t-shirt.

"The one damn time I try to go to bed early." He muttered as he started clicking on his computer keys. "I got the signal. I'll keep tracking it."

He shut his phone and dropped it onto the desk with a clack.

"Do we have a lock on Shaw?" Gisele asked.

"For the moment. You ladies go get some sleep. You're going to need it, because I guarantee when Hobbs gets back and I give him what I've found we're moving on him."

Gisele and I shared a look. We were almost at the end.

**AN: This is the unbetaed draft. I have unfortunately run out of summer, so I'm kind of in a hurry to get everything up. The next chapter and half of the chapter after that are done. Unfortunately, this is kind of the last happy one. **

**Thank you for your reviews and please keep them coming. I really appreciate the feedback. Anything you give me positive or negative **


	9. The End of the Job

**One shot**

**Everything rides on tonight**

**Even if I've got three strikes**

**Imma go for it**

**This moment, we own it**

**Z**

"I want you to go back to Spain." He deadpanned after a deep breath. I sighed. We'd been having this conversation a lot lately. He'd gotten more insistent since he'd come back bruised and beaten from the unexpected confrontation with Shaw's group.

I was willing to go to the side lines a little to protect the baby, but I was going home completely.

"No." I answered with finality. "There is no way in hell—"

"Please!" He cut me off. I cringed at the sudden change of volume.

A look of intense hurt spread across his face at my reaction before he schooled it behind a stoic mask. I felt guilty for flinching, but I hadn't meant to do it. It was leftover reflex from dealing with DK and Kamata in Japan. He rarely ever got mad enough to yell at me and it had just surprised me. When he did raise his voice, I was always expecting it because it took a lot of prodding to get that reaction out of him and I was a master at pushing his buttons.

"I just—I don' want something to happen to you or this baby. I-" He trailed off, breathing hard as he stared at me. His dark eyes usually held amusement or a spark of life, but today he looked scared; no amount of stony expressions could hide that.

"I could get on a plane right now, and fly to any random corner of the world, and I would still be a target; hell, I probably wouldn't make it out of the airport. It's too late to get me out. I'm in this til the end." I told him slowly as I rubbed his cheek with my thumb. He slid one of his big, calloused hands up my arm and let in rest over my hand.

"You're also forgetting something very important." I continued. "We're a team and my place is here. We're either going to win together, or go down together."

"Ride or die." Han muttered as he closed his eyes.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to myself. And you'd better not let anything happen to you."

Impulsively, I rocked up on my toes and gently kissed him. Gingerly, he wrapped his arms around me and started to respond against my lips. When the kiss ended, I dropped my hands to his shoulders and rested my head on his chest. His heart thudded as steady as the second hand of a clock.

That had always been Han, though; steady and reliable. As much as I hated to admit it, he had come to represent safety. No matter what was going on, I would always be safe and protected with him. This time was no different. Pretty soon he was going to have a swaddled little baby resting on his chest when he watched TV stretched out on the couch. He was going to have our kid held close to him while he worked on engines.

"When this is over," his deep voice rumbled in his chest. "Let's go somewhere new. Start over fresh."

"Well, we were going to have to move anyway. We could go somewhere with a cheaper housing market and find a fantastic place to raise the kid. It's your turn to pick the city and the house." I told him as leaned back and looked at him with a small smile. "I won't even bitch if you pick wrong."

A real smile slowly spread across his lips before he snorted and began to chuckle.

"You're unbelievable." He finally replied.

"I try." I disentangled myself from him and moved towards one of the cars that I hadn't finished yet. "Come on, let's start getting these cars ready to go."

I ducked out of our secluded corner behind a lift in the very back of the shop. Rome caught sight of us sneaking out and a bright white smile started spreading across his face. Han gave him a warning glance before he started double checking the list of cars we had chosen to take on Shaw with.

I was about to follow him when Dom motioned me over.

"Everything okay?" He asked lowly so no one else could hear. Looking at his position, I realized he could hear Han raise his voice.

"He's really worried about me getting hurt." I answered honestly.

"You can handle it." Dom reassured.

"It's the baby he's worried about not handling it. I technically wasn't supposed to get pregnant. If I lose this one and later we decide to try, it's probably never going to happen."

"Baby?" Oh shit. Maybe Brian hadn't told him.

"Yep. If I would have known, I wouldn't have come." I muttered. I briefly wondered what Dom's solution to keeping me safe would be. Sitting me between Hobbs and Riley? Come to think of it, with Hobbs's attitude and tenacity that was an awful idea. After all, the man jumped off an overpass onto a moving car from his own moving car.

"Hey, y'all listen up." Tej yelled from his desk. "Yo, Hobbs." He answered his phone and put it on speaker.

"What have you got, Parker. Give me something good."

"Yeah that paint you got from Shaw's place, highly specialized; anti thermal coding."

"Military." Dom put in.

"Exactly. We got a list of bases in Europe that use this paint type and those specific colors."

"Alright le's cross reference that with all of Shaw's military targets. I guarantee you one of them's going to match." Hobbs barked into the phone.

"Bingo. It's a NATO base in Spain."

"Well, I'll be damned." I muttered. Guess I was going back to Spain after all.

"That puts Shaw in a different country. Means he got an eight hour lead on us." Dom dropped his grease rag and started moving towards the phone. Han and I locked eyes as he pulled on his jacket.

"We got to move now! Tej, get me that info. Riley and I are going to lock down that base. We're going to protect that base personally. Toretto, I'll arrange transportation for you and your cars. Brush up on your Spanish boys; I'll see you in Espaῆa." Hobbs promptly hung up.

"Any idea where that base is?" Dom asked me over his shoulder.

"Lusitania. It's a coastal town." I answered automatically. I wasn't sure how I knew that; I think I'd learned it from my male friends back home.

"Everybody pack their bags. I don't think we're coming back here."

Z

"I can carry my own damn bag." I snarled as I tried to pull my duffle bag off of Han's shoulder. He snorted and hoisted it up higher on his shoulder.

"It's bigger than you are and I've got it." He muttered. I sighed as I leaned back on the wall. We had this argument every damn time we went anywhere.

"Alright, let's get going." Dom ordered as he stared at us.

We all started to move towards the elevator.

We were leaving for good. Almost all of the cars and Gisele and Han's bikes had already been shipped out along with all of our computer equipment and files. No trace of us was left in the building except for the broken snack machine.

It felt strange to be leaving everything behind.

Ahead of us, the elevator arrived and the doors open. Instead of it being empty like I was expecting, Brian was standing there with his head bent and his arms crossed. Rome let his bags fall as he stared at him in shock.

"You son of a bitch! You made it!" Rom yelled at him as he pulled him into a bro hug.

"Thank God." I muttered to Han. Han nodded mutely. I knew he was relieved to see his friend safe and to have me not driving against a flip car in a convoy hijacking while pregnant.

"What up, man? It's good to see you." Tej greeted.

"Good to see you." Brian replied. "Hey, what's going on here?"

"Figured out they hitting an army base in Spain. Border patrol IDed Shaw's team passing through last night." Tej answered clinically.

"Hey, Hobbs and Riley went to lock down the base. They're going to meet us there." Han dropped my bag and shook his hand when he reached him. Knowing it was my only chance, I picked it up and slid it over my shoulder. I buckled a little under the weight, but I could handle it.

"He wasn't going without you." Gisele pointed Brian to the very back of the building where Dom was still sitting with the remaining two cars.

"I found out what happened to Letty. It's all my fault." I heard Brian's voice from around the corner loud and clear.

Dom's response was low and gravelly. It was even more difficult to hear over Rome attempting to hit on Gisele since he knew she wasn't with Han anymore. They shared a look over my head and both rolled their eyes at him.

"Oh come on! Y'all can't stay in the past; you gotta look to the future. When something doesn't work, you've got to try something new." Rome was babbling a bunch of nonsense with random pickup lines.

Having had enough of his friend, Han reached over and hit the elevator button with a lot more force than necessary until the doors reopened.

I was looking back to tell Rome to shut it when I saw Gisele's face. She was sneaking a wishful glance at Han because she thought no one was looking. My eyes flicked over to Han who was walking into the elevator, staring at the ground. His posture was a little bit more slouched than usual; like he felt her look.

She had loved him, she still loved him, and Han knew.

Z

"I just got word they got one of Shaw's men at the base." Tej announced as he walked to the back of the plane."

"This is not right. He wanted us to find that guy." I mumbled before I put my hand back over my mouth.

I started to squeeze my jaw a little bit as another wave of nausea hit me. The plane smelled weird and the rocking of turbulence was killing me. Damn kid decided to start with the morning sickness at the worst time possible.

"She's absolutely right. Think about what happened with Interpol. Braga said the only way you get near Shaw is if he wants you to." Brian began as he stood up."

"Tej, where's that component?" Dom asked.

"They're moving it to a secure location." Tej answered slowly.

"Shaw's very skilled at hijacking convoys. Why would he switch to attacking a base? He'd lose his advantage." I felt a little stupid for not realizing it before.

"He ain't hitting that base." Dom agreed.

"How are we going to stop him from hitting that convoy?" Rome asked as he started rubbing circles in my back.

"If we do something to prevent him from hitting it, we'll lose our chance to catch him." Gisele put in from her spot beside Han.

"Yeah, he'll take us out and then try for the last component again." Han added.

Dom smiled as he glanced around at all of us. "I've got a plan."

Z

"You better fucking watch yourself, Han Lue." I threatened as I prepared to get in the passenger side of Brian's car.

I think he was beginning to regret attempting to baby me as much as he did. I had nagged him to be careful the ever since Dom had gone over the plan. For the most part he had taken it with a good natured smirk, but it was aggravating him.

Dom had decided that I could help Brian with the winch and the hook. Out of the drivers, Brian had the most self-preservation and he was a good driver, so everyone had been okay with letting me go with him. The general agreement was that with a job like this they needed everyone placed where they could do some good. I would be less than useless standing with Tej or in the chopper with Hobbs and Riley.

I was okay with that until I realized that meant Han was on a motorcycle with nothing to stop the bullets or cushion his body in a crash. Gisele had finally assured me that he was a good enough rider that crashing wasn't going to happen. I had felt a lot better, but that still left bullets.

"I've actually done this before." He informed me as he leaned down and caught my lips in a quick kiss. His hand landed on my stomach for a few seconds, before he pulled away and got on his bike beside Gisele. They started them up and went to meet Tej at the rendezvous point.

I smiled as I watched them go before I slid into Brian's car and shut the door. He started the engine and soon we were moving, leaving the airport in the rearview mirror and heading towards the convoy.

"He really wants that baby. That's why he's panicking." Brian grinned as he broke the silence.

"You know I think you're right." I grinned back at him as I started to blush. As much as we both swore we weren't going to have kids, we were both excited about the prospect of a family. Neither of us would dare admit exactly how much to the other, but it was kind of obvious.

"What are you going to do after this?" He asked lightly as he followed Rome onto the highway.

"We're going to move somewhere new and start over." He looked a little surprised. "Our apartment in Madrid is way too small for the three of us so we were going to have to move anyway and we've still got a lot of time to find a house before the baby gets here. Might as well make it an adventure."

"Not a bad idea." Brian agreed.

The coastal view off the highway whipped by as Brian followed Dom and Rome. We were going well over the speed limit and cars were flying past us. I felt a strange calm as I watched everything out my window. What we were doing was crazy, but right then it just felt like a normal day.

"Fellas, you better hurry up; they just took the convoy." Tej's voice came over the radio after a long bit of silence.

Brian went up a gear and accelerated harder. I kept waiting to see the massive army green truck appear at the crest of a hill in the distance.

"Hey Dom." Tej paused hesitantly. "Letty's with them."

For a split second, Brian looked away from the road to the radio. Something in his face changed and the speedometer needle started arching to the right faster than it was before.

"We stick to the plan." Dom's voice confirmed.

"Ready?" Brian asked.

"Yeah." I replied shortly as I grabbed the hook gun, ready to fire at the transport truck when we got close.

"Alright, you heard the man; let's play this fast and clean. Everybody take it away." Tej's tone changed into something more businesslike; there was not an ounce of hesitation in his words.

"Uhh, guys we gotta come up with another plan." His voice came back over a second later, stressed and harried. "They got a tank."

"I'm sorry, did somebody just say tank?" Rome demanded.

"Oh shit. Han." I blurted.

"He's okay. I think we're the ones he's aiming for." Brian's words were far more comforting than they should have been.

On our left, a jeep with a roll cage and a familiar black guy in a hat went flying by. I spun around to look out the back window and saw him raise his hand, probably to talk into a radio.

"Shaw knows we're coming now. One of his guys just gave him the heads up." I spoke into ours. On the other side of the road, I caught sight of a red bike weaving in and out of traffic with a black and orange one close behind it.

_He'll be fine_. I told myself.

"Oh shit." Brian swore.

I turned around in my seat to see the tank in all its glory trucking down the other side of the road. Its turret spun sharply, setting us in its sights, and fired a round. The ground shook as it hit behind us, flipping civilian cars and almost catching Dom in a fireball.

"Now who's got a plan B?" Rome snarked.

"Plan B? We need a plan C, D, E. We need the whole alphabet!" Tej yelled back.

"We do what we do best; we improvise. Alright?" Brian stole the radio from me.

He tossed it back into my lap before he turned hard throwing me against my side of the car. We drifted a turn between the concrete barriers separating sides of the road and the accelerated harshly as we followed the tank.

"Unless we distract it and hope it drives off a bridge, we might be screwed." I told him.

"No one ever got anywhere with that attitude." He replied smartly. If we were in a different setting, I might have rolled my eyes, but I was too distracted by the big ass tank.

I watched Dom get right alongside it. For a second I was concerned for his safety, but that wasn't an issue for long because it went straight sideways, right through the barriers and onto the side of the road we had just left. It bounced slightly as it pancaked an SUV then rolled over a sedan.

Rome was behind us and had a better angle at hitting the hole, so he took it.

"Take their attention away from the people!" Dom commanded after the tank took out at least four more cars, always hitting them in a place that would take out the people inside. They were out for blood.

"We have to go help Rome. His tires won't make it very long on the debris."

"Help me look for an opening." I nodded at Brian.

I reached under my seat to grab the tablet I had stashed there before I got in. I quickly pulled up the satellite images of our location.

"There's one coming up, but it's tiny. There's also a massive bridge; if we're going to get rid of the tank that would be a good place to dump it." I told him.

I wasn't sure he heard me; he was busy watching Rome attempt to get alongside Shaw. It wasn't going well and Shaw had taken out even more cars. There was no way anyone had survived.

Rome finally found his opening; he was right in front of Shaw. I watched in horror as the gun barrel lowered to Rome's level. Thinking fast, he slammed the brakes. The shot went above his car and slammed into the road in front of him, sending up a fireball that blocked my view.

When the smoke cleared, the back end of Rome's mustang was caught on the front end of the tank.

I heard Brian exhale in relief when he realized his longtime friend was alright.

"Somebody better do something! I've got a tank on my ass!" He yelled.

"The break in the concrete is coming up. It's right after the bridge." I told Brian.

"There's got to be a break up ahead." Dom's voice joined the conversation. Brian and I ignored him.

We flew underneath the overpass. I looked back at Dom in the rearview and saw the turret move again. A few seconds later, the concrete was crumbling. My heart leapt into my throat when it looked like Dom was going to be pinned underneath it. Fortunately, he made it without an inch to spare.

"We have got to get that tank off the bridge." I told Brian.

"The only problem is Letty's on it." He reminded. I wanted to tell him that that was by far not our only problem, but I held my tongue.

We glanced over to see Rome standing on his car looping the metal cable around the gun. I didn't even have time to appreciate what I good idea that was before Brian called out "let's do it" and swerved left.

My head snapped back to the road just in time to see a massive pile of rubble.

The car jolted as it careened into the rubble and straight into the air. We hung there in the space between the sides of the highway for a moment before we dropped back down to the asphalt. The impact hurt every bone in my body.

"You're fucking crazy O'Connor." I mumbled as I tried to move to the middle.

A car about to hit us head on honked wildly, but Brian ignored it. He dropped back closer to the tank and Rome leapt for the top of our car screaming wildly. The pedestrian still heading straight forward honked again and Brian swerved putting us behind the tank.

Crisis averted, I leaned over and flung the door open. Rome's feet appeared from the top as he slid down feet first into the seat and closed the door behind him. I moved onto his lap and wrapped the safety belt around us both. It probably wouldn't do much, but at least we had it.

A second later, the chewed up, flattened skeleton of the Mustang flew out from underneath the tank. It bounced and scraped as it got pulled behind by the steel cable.

"Yeah!" Rome yelled as he and Brian both started laughing.

"If we can get that car off the bridge we can use it as an anchor. That's probably the only the tank can't out muscle." I threw out the idea as I adjusted on Rome's lap. It was weird being up against another guy and he was panting like had just run a marathon.

Dom came over the radio suggesting the same thing.

"Ellie just had that idea. I'm on it." Brian told him.

Brian accelerated hard, smacking the mustang with his front end. He used the car like a bulldozer to edge the flattened shell of the Mustang to the edge. Ahead of us, people were bailing out of their cars on the narrow bridge. Shaw was continuing to run them over, but at least he wasn't causing the loss of life he was before.

Brian smacked the car again, almost flipping it over the guard rail. Finally he succeeded.

"Yeah!" Rome yelled in victory.

I grinned with him as I watched the car tip and fall far down below. My smile quickly faded when I caught sight of the tank. The beautiful Latina from the photographs was climbing out of the hatch. She moved across the top and was reaching for the wire.

"What is she doing?" Rome asked when he saw her too.

Dom apparently noticed too. His car shot forward, bringing him alongside of the tank.

"Letty!" I faintly heard him scream. Her head whipped around to face him.

Suddenly, his door flung open. His muscular hulking form moved out of his door towards the front of his car.

Below them, the anchor finally caught.

The tank lurched forward towards the guard rail. Letty was thrown from her crouch, high into the air between the stretches of bridge. Dom swerved, slamming his car into the guardrail as well, catapulting himself towards her.

They met in midair. His arms wrapped around her as his greater mass forced them both back towards her side and onto a car. His body blocked her fall.

Brian pulled over and turned off the car. His face was ghost white and it was clear he was relieved. Rome was so surprised he didn't have anything to say.

Finally able to breathe easily again, we began to get out of the car. I had leaned back in to stash my tablet under the seat when the radio buzzed like someone had their finger on the button but wasn't talking. I froze, waiting for something to happen.

"We have a problem." Tej finally spoke. My heart leapt into my throat. "It's Han."


	10. Saying Goodbye

**Not really sure how to feel about it.**

**Something in the way you move**

**Makes me feel like I can't live without you.**

**It takes me all the way.**

**I want you to stay**

**Z**

The ruin on the highway was terrible. Broken concrete, twisted metal, and shattered glass littered the area and people were still picking themselves out of the wreckage left behind. Well, those that were still living were.

I drove as far and as fast as I could, but there came a point when I could go no further. I slammed Brian's car in park, and, despite Roman's yells to wait, I flung myself out and started running. The ground was uneven and I slipped multiple times, tearing the skin of my hands and my knees until the blood was pouring onto my fingers and down my pants legs.

I must have run three miles before I finally saw the roll bars on Shaw's jeep over the stopped traffic.

My heart leapt into my throat as the adrenaline and fear kicked in. I shoved past a soccer mom and sprinted between two sedans, sprinting hard. As I got closer, I saw Tej holding the black guy in the beanie at gun point. I looked around wildly for Gisele when I finally saw her in the jeep crouch over, half hidden behind the seat.

Afraid of what I was about to see, I jumped through the open door of the driver's side, standing on the seat.

"Baby girl, don't!" Tej yelled but it was way too late.

The blood pool was growing, spreading underneath him and running over the upholstery of the jeep's seats. He was wheezing, and with one look I could tell his right lung had collapsed from the bullet. Gisele was bent over him with her finger jammed in the bullet hole, trying to keep air from leaking in and trying to stop the bleeding.

I almost threw up.

"Give me the radio." I yelled to Tej as I dropped back to the ground.

He glanced at me sideways, his jaw tight with anxiety.

"Ellie—" He began patronizingly.

Not waiting for him to finish and feeling braver than I probably should have, I leaned over and snatched it out of his pocket.

"Hobbs, I need a life support helicopter now." I barked as I glanced back at Gisele.

Her face was grim but something in her eyes lit up. She leaned back over Han, whispering something. She moved her hand over the wound and he jerked. I winced when I saw how much pain he was in. Realizing the blood pool was steadily getting bigger, I yanked my shirt over my head and tossed to her. She caught it one handed and pressed it to his flank.

"I can't do that."

"He's losing blood too fast for us to do anything here. We can save him if we get him to a hospital." I implored as I crawled back into the jeep, all the way into the back.

His face was completely devoid of color. His eyes were barely focused on anything. A thin layer of sweat was covering his face and making his hair stick to his forehead. There was no trace of the confidence, calm man I had seen get on his motorcycle and drive off. He was dying.

"Han" I whispered as I dropped down to my knees.

"Life Flight's already been called out and the ambulances are on their way. They can't make it through because of the damage. " Hobbs argued.

Han saw me for the first time and he shakily tried to move his arm to touch me. I reached out a hand to stop his movement and adjusted so I could cradle his head in my lap.

"They said you were the one to call when you needed holes punched and walls torn down. Has that changed?" I asked as I leaned down to kiss his bloody lips. That might be the last time I ever got the chance.

Sorrow rolled over in my gut as I stayed leaning over him in my bra with my hair shielding us like a curtain. Overheard, I heard the blades of a helicopter get louder until they were directly above us.

"Get him out of here now." I commanded.

Han drew a shaking, gasping breath, and then another, and then another. There was no rhythm or pattern to it; his body was just trying to suck in whatever air it could get. My heart broke.

"Hobbs!" I yelled into the radio. I was expecting my voice to come out in a strangled sob. Considering the panic rising in my chest, it probably should have, but instead it came out strong. It was demanding, it was controlled, and it was exactly what we needed it to be.

A few seconds later, the noise of the helicopter increased. Forceful waves of air started hitting my head from above and sent my hair moving wildly.

"Just hang on." I told Han. "You're going to be okay."

"Ellie, he's —" Rome began.

"Just shut your whore mouth and tell Hobbs to get his ass over here with some plastic, medical tape, and bandages. If we get him some oxygen quickly and get the bleeding stopped he'll be okay." I barked at him.

Han's bloody hand went to the middle of my belly, right above the waist band of my jeans.

"She's okay. Now you've got to be okay for her, so just focus on trying to breathe." I muttered at him.

I wasn't really sure why the pronoun 'she' slipped out. I hadn't given any thought to the gender of the baby, but calling the kid 'it' just felt wrong in that moment.

"Just hang on." I whispered to Han as I pressed a kiss to his forehead.

The whine of the blade was deafeningly loud. Male voices were being added to the din, but I could make out the words or who was talking. I was too afraid to look away from Han's white, drawn face for one second to see who had gotten there.

"Blood type?" Someone barked in English. I glanced up enough to see a man in EMT scrubs crawling into the back and taking Gisele's place. Hobbs had sent Life Flight.

"A minus!" I yelled back over the helicopter.

Big hands wrapped around my biceps and I found myself being pulled backwards. I wanted to fight, but another big EMT was also getting into the Jeep and we were quickly running out of space. Knowing they needed me out of the way so they could pull him on the stretcher, I kissed him one last time, and gently moved out from under his head.

Rome didn't give me a chance to climb down myself; instead, he just scooped me up and carried me over to where Gisele was standing off to the side. He set me down and slipped his jacket over my shoulders.

I was numb. I should be feeling a lot of emotions, and for a minute I was, but they were slowing retreating. I was a realist; I knew he probably wouldn't live through this. My dreams of having a family and a life with him were cracking and would soon be shattered forever, but in that moment I couldn't feel anything.

I had so much adrenaline going that my body wouldn't let me react.

The two EMTs slid him onto the stretcher and sprinted back to the helicopter with him. Without waiting to be told, I ran after them. They helped me into the helicopter and started rapid firing questions about Han's allergies and medical history the second we took off. I answered everything as thoroughly as I could while I held his hand and soon we were dropping down, back onto a helicopter pad next to the base hospital.

Nurses were waiting for our arrival and as soon as the landing gear hit the pad and the blades were off, they were throwing open the door and pulling him into the hospital. I jogged alongside of the stretcher, but in the chaos, I was shoved aside.

I felt like I lost half of myself when I lost my grip on his hand.

Disoriented, I stopped running. They kept moving him away from me, straight into an operating room where I couldn't follow.

When the door slammed shut, I felt lost. I didn't feel any specific emotion, just the sense of something missed, like I'd been stripped of something very vital and left naked and vulnerable. I started thinking that feeling anything would be better than feeling this.

"Mrs. Lue." A nurse's clipped voice to my left finally caught my attention. I cocked my head in her direction, but I couldn't look away from the door. "They're going to try to remove the bullet and re-inflate his lung. Losing as much blood as he has, the chance of surviving the surgery is minimal."

"I understand." My voice replied.

But really I didn't. Why now? We've had a lot of near misses with death, but why did he have to be taken away after we found out we were going to have a baby? What boy was going to want to learn how to rebuild an engine from his mother? What girl wanted to go through her life without a father daughter dance? I _needed_ him for this. We were supposed to get old together.

Since there wasn't anything else I could do, I sank in a chair to wait.

Around me, the hospital filled with the wounded and the mourning as the casualties from the highway overflowed into the base from the civilian hospital. Eventually, the team spilled in with them. They practically interrogated me on what was happening and then got very concerned when I answered them straightforwardly. What did they want to me to do? Cry and dissolved into a broken puddle of tears and loneliness? That wouldn't help anybody.

It didn't take long for the stressed, understaffed nurses trying to help the families to get tired of the team's presence and ask them to step out. I breathed a sigh of relief when they turned to go, but something about sitting there alone didn't sound so appealing. I managed to catch Gisele's eye right before she followed Tej out the exit.

She seemed to know what I wanted without having to ask and took a seat in one of the few empty chairs in the waiting room. She didn't say anything as I was glad; there wasn't anything to say at this point.

The waiting room was emptying out and the shadows were growing long by the time a nurse came by to talk me. She pulled me into a tiny side room that held a table, a chair, a small dry erase board, and not much else. The room was so tiny that she, Gisele, and I barely fit. There was no way to stand where my shoulder wasn't against Gisele's rib cage.

"Okay, Mrs. Lue. The surgery is finished, and they are taking him to recovery in the ICU. The bullet fragmented and they were able to recover most of the shards, but not all of them. He will need a second surgery as soon as possible. He was very weak when they brought him in; there is a lot of concern about the second surgery." She had a kind voice and a straightforward manner that I really appreciated at the moment, even if it was bringing bad news.

"Can they hold off the second surgery until he is stronger?" I heard myself asking.

"No. They need to get the fragments out so they can see how much damage has been done and start repairing it." She answered quickly.

"Can I see him?"

"He may not be conscious; he was in a lot pain so they had to give him narcotics." She warned.

"I understand. I want to see him anyway." I insisted. She nodded as her mouth set in a grim line.

"I'll come get you when it's time."

I thanked her and stepped out of the tiny, claustrophobic room before she could reply. Out seats had been taken so I picked a completely empty row of chairs on the far side of the room and sat down stiffly. Gisele didn't join me.

She was being kind, but I knew the real meaning of her words. His body wasn't strong enough to recover right now. He'd lost too much blood and suffered too much damage from the bullet. The second surgery would kill him.

"I'm going back with the team." The gentle words came from behind me.

"No you're not. I know you need to see him one more time too." I deadpanned to Gisele. She sucked in a breath from pain or surprise at my bluntness I didn't know.

"I can't do that." She replied.

"You'll never forgive yourself if you don't." I was startled at the harsh words that slipped out.

I didn't know what happened on the truck, and I wasn't about to ask because it didn't matter anymore, but I knew she felt guilty. She was probably running through it trying to find ways she could have prevented it; I would be. She deserved a few minutes alone with him to make whatever peace she needed to. Besides, he did care for her; he would have liked to know that she stayed behind to say goodbye.

"Ten minutes." She agreed in a small voice before I felt her leave. I was just worried he wouldn't hang on that long.

Z

I was wrong; he did. After Gisele said her goodbyes, Dom showed up with Rome beside him. I let them see him briefly, and then I pulled his bed curtains closed and folded myself up in the chair beside his bed.

The words of the love poems I read him to sleep with in Tokyo flowed off my tongue as I held onto his hands. I dropped my face onto the pillow next to him and just soaked up his presence. At one point, he weakly raised one of his hands to my face and laid it on my cheek. He couldn't speak through the tube in his throat, but I knew that was his 'I love you'.

We stayed like that until the doctor came to get him for his second surgery hours later with Dom on his heels; their grim expression told me all I needed to know about the prognosis for his surgery.

This was it; this was possibly the last time I was ever going to hold him. Han had been telling me for years this was coming, that he was going first, but now that it was here I wasn't ready to let go at all.

"Can you give us one more minute?" I asked them. The doctor's lips thinned even more, but he agreed and left. Dom reminded me that we had to go as soon as he went in for surgery, and then he walked out too.

Han's grip on my hand tightened as much as he was able, and the thumb of the hand on my face gently brushed away a stray tear that was falling. I leaned over and kissed his forehead, trying to put every bit of emotion I could in it, because I absolutely could not trust my voice.

He tried to say something through the tube and I shushed him quickly, moving my forehead to rest on his. We stayed like that together for another minute until the doctor knocked on the door.

"I'm not ready to let you go." I told him breathlessly as I kissed the corner of his mouth one last time. His hand moved to grip my stomach above the waistband of my jeans and a tear slipped out from under one of his closed eyelids, and my throat tightened so much I couldn't breathe.

In all of our time together, I had never seen him even choke up. I didn't want to know how scared he had to be to let that amount of emotion slip.

Two nurses slipped in the door behind the doctor. One gently led me away from him while the other unhooked his monitors and wheeled him out the door and down the hall. I think she was speaking to me, trying to soothe me, but I was too numb to take in any of her words.

"You don't have to leave. We can handle handing over Shaw just fine." Dom told me from the door way. I jumped in shock as his deep voice pulled me out of my stupor.

"Actually, I do. You need the extra man. Besides," I turned and flashed him a bitter, sad smile. "do you think he'd want me just standing here crying? Letty was his family too. He loved her a lot. As much as I hate her, I know he'd want her back."

"Okay." He agreed after a dark expression of doubt crossed his face. "Let's go then."

We crossed through the hospital hallways together in silence. He let me go first through the doors to the outside, then he led the way through the busy base to the building where Shaw was being held and the team was waiting.

Everyone looked up when we entered. I locked eyes with Gisele and for the first time since I've ever known her she looked vulnerable. Her eyes shone with so many emotions; fear, anger, regret, sorrow.

The other team members muttered questions as at me as I passed. I ignored them all and sat down beside Gisele on the metal stairs. I propped my arms on my knees, mirroring her posture.

"What are you going to do?" She finally asked.

"I don't know. I'll probably go to my family. I didn't exactly have an exit plan for this." I answered honestly.

"What about the baby?" She whispered after a long pause.

"I'll have help." We shared a brief look before we went back to staring at the stair below us. That was nothing else to say that couldn't be said in that look.

"Hey, Toretto! You need to hear this!" Hobbs's shout broke the silence.

I looked up to see him leading Shaw by the arm with Riley right behind him. More soldiers leading Shaw's team spilled into the big room from the hall with the jail cells. My stomach rolled; I didn't think I could take any more surprises.

"You guys really think you've won." Shaw's voice sent a chill down my spine like Kamata's used to. "This code you live by; it's the very reason why you weren't even in the game. I told you exactly what I was going to do if you didn't walk away, Toretto, but you didn't listen. I told you I could reach out a break you whenever I want, and I have. Maybe you should call Mia."

I sucked in a breath as I realized exactly what had happened. The team didn't need to lose another member tonight.

I heard the sound of a dial tone before Brian spoke in worried voice. "Mia?"

"Brian!" I could make out her screaming.

He lunged at Shaw. Before anyone could move he'd slammed his fist into Shaw's cheekbone. He was drawing back for another hit when several men grabbed him and yanked him back. He glared at Shaw as the other man spit out the blood and started chuckling.

"So this is how it's going to go down; you're going to cut me loose from these cuffs, you're going to hand me the chip, and I'm going to walk out of here and you're not going to follow." Shaw ordered.

"You have got to be joking." The commanding officer growled.

"Look at his face. Ask him if I'm joking." Shaw snapped back.

"One hostage does not outweigh the threat to millions." The officer insisted. "Sorry, but this changes nothing."

Surprisingly, Hobbs was the one to shift negotiations in our favor. Unsurprisingly, he did by pointing a gun at the man's head.

"It changes everything." He deadpanned over the sounds of guns being cocked. "You tell your men to stand down."

"Stand down." The officer muttered, giving him a poisonous look that would have peeled paint off the walls.

"Torretto, I want you to know that the moment he let him walk out that door with that chip, words like amnesty and pardon walk out with him." Hobbs glanced over at Dom.

"Those words went out the day we were born." Shaw smirked at his response.

There was silence as Riley moved behind the team, taking off their handcuffs one by one.

"Wise choice. One young widowed mother is about all your team can handle." Shaw spoke as he turned.

My eyes widened as Shaw made eye contact with me. Bile rose in my throat as warning bells went off in my brain.

"Are you coming, babe?" He asked.

Everyone looked at Letty, but I knew that wasn't right. Beside her, Riley's mouth twisted up in an awful smile.

"Of course." She replied. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Everyone had a different display of shock but Hobbs was the worst. He had seemed half in love with her this whole time, but now he looked crestfallen. It was the most emotion I'd seen out of the stoic living GI Joe doll yet.

"Told you; you weren't even in the game." Shaw's comment felt like a slap in the face. It didn't help that he took Riley's hand in his as he said it.

Without waiting for a reply, he walked off into the pitch black night with his team behind him, the chip in one hand, that stupid weasel in the other, and every hope we ever had of fixing our lives.

**AN: This is unedited for the moment. I have emailed it to CompYES and when she has it edited, I will post the fixed version. I wanted to hurry up and get this posted because I'm super super stressed right now and I won't have time to update anything until next week if I don't post it now. **

**Any feedback I can get would be fantastic. I'll try to have the next chapter out soon, but I can't make any promises.**


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